Danger Days
by hisironicprincess
Summary: California desert 2019. The nuclear war leveled most of the world, and now only a few cities remain. The center of America is now Battery City, ruled over by Better Living Industries, the inhabitants are kept in line by use of emotion numbing pills. Enter the Killjoys, colorful wild rebels who want to take down Bli/nd and reveal who they are. PonyXD OCsXCanons
1. Welcome to Hell

A raven-haired man sat weakly doubled over. A corpse lay by his form, and the dark-haired man shook violently. Vomit ran past his dry lips, mixing in with the heated sand. _Fuck, when was I hit?_ The sweat and dirt were stinging his eyes, and he gagged once more. The fabric covering his belly and right arm was smoking from the burn of the blasts. He'd hardly had time to register the pain during the fight, but then it was over and he was sinking into the sand and sicking up. His arms shook violently and he glanced to the side as he faintly felt a hand tugging on his vest. His dark eyes looked up to see a familiar man standing above him, his helmet reflecting the sun's rays. As much as Ghoul needed to be treated, at that moment, getting away was more crucial.

Two large men, both in helmets, hurried over to help the smaller man to his feet. The one in bright red winced at the acids and partially digested food being absorbed by the sand. Hoisting Ghoul's weight on their shoulders, they rushed to the vintage car. They slid his pitiful form into the back seat and both hurried inside. The final member of the group joined them soon after, his red hair and bright yellow mask unmistakable even through the sand flying around as if it were the first heavy snow in the Midwest long ago.

"Where'd he get hit?" the last arrival barked to the other men as he put his car into drive. The engine purred like a familiar animal, jolting to life as they took off speeding over the sands. The air was thick, tense, as he focused on the road, and he could faintly hear zippers being pulled and the muted sound of fabric being brushed off of flesh. _God dammit Ghoul, I swear if you shit out on me…I'll fucking kill you._ Keeping his glare harsh as he looked to the road, he refused to think about how bad it was, that his best friend was lying there and could die at any moment. No, he had to keep a lookout for any approaching cars, or—worse yet—any ongoing raids.

Once his helmet was removed, the blond man known as Kobra Kid frowned at the wounded man before him. When the clothing was tugged off, blonde brows met, as the burns were fairly deep. With one quick motion the man grabbed his flask and poured the cooling liquid over the wounds. He looked up and met the tallest man's gaze with a frown, watching Jet pull a small first aid kit from the side of the door. After a moment, Jet frowned as well. _Half of this shit is used up! Tommy better not have screwed us over!_ Opening up the cracked eggshell box, Jet rummaged around, finding a needle and some thread, some old used up gauze, and a few bandages. Another frown found its way onto his wide lips. Removing his helmet, he looked to the box again—it was just full of shit! _Goddamn it!_ Releasing a few swears under his breath, he began throwing things out of the container until finally he found a half-used bottle of burn ointment. The man sighed and handed the tube to Kobra. The blonde took it quickly, squeezing a large cream-colored blob out on his palm. Wasting no time, he applied the potion to the inked man's stomach.

Ghoul let out a small hiss as the cool concoction touched his bare, sweaty skin. The sensation of the potion against his own burned flesh was as painful as sitting on a cactus then deciding to roll around in a bag of salt. Despite it all, the man merely gritted his teeth and suffered through it. While the guys wouldn't say anything at that moment, he knew any tears spent would lead to mocking later on. _No problem, not a problem. I can handle this, I'm the mother fuckin' Fun Ghoul, nothing's gonna bring me down._ Feeling another wince coming on as the cream was rubbed onto his arm, his entire body tensed up. He could faintly register yelling between the two men above him; however, his vision was growing blurry from the pain. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes before they shut, his normally tanned face becoming a sickly shade of white.

"Goddamn, he's out." Kobra tugged at his blonde hair, ignoring his brother's earlier question. _Come on, you dirty bastard, don't you dare give out on me._ The man swore as he did his best to wrap Ghoul's wounds with the clean side of the gauze. Focusing on the task, he could hardly feel the change in the motions of the car as it moved from sand to pavement after making a sharp right. He cursed himself as the gauze came loose. He motioned for Jet to lift Ghoul up and sighed in relief, since this made his task much easier. With a clockwise motion and a quick line of stitches, the wrap was made to hold on tightly. Poison's question was the furthest thing from his mind until he looked up. In the rearview mirror his brother's eyes were burning back at him, not only with worry, but also with a searing rage that made his flesh crawl. Letting a small shiver pass up his spine, he shook his head. _This isn't happening, this isn't happening._

"Got blasted in the lower stomach and pretty bad on his right bicep. He's out now, but it's pretty bad. He puked a shitton up and that's gonna be a bitch to handle later. He lost some color and I think he might be sick, we need to get him somewhere to rest…" His voice trailed off into a growl, mind racing for nearby houses, towns—anywhere they could stop, rest, and get the proper medical treatment this man clearly needed. They sure as hell wouldn't find that out here.

"And where do you propose we stop?" Jet cut in with a snarl. Despite his normal cool demeanor, when stress came along it was like someone flipped a switch in his brain. The guys often joked about it, though sometimes it could frighten them. It's like what was said: it's always the quiet ones. "We can't get to the fucking diner from 'ere and the station is even further away! Do you wanna stop at some wave-head town in the middle of nowhere and deal with that?!"

The younger man shot him a heavy glare. "And what would you rather do?! You want to pull over and get him what he needs here?! Oh wait, there's just so much water I don't know what to do with it!" _Goddammit, Jet._ This is not the time to be a girl about your shit.

"Both of you shut the fucking hell up before I kick you out of the car and let you handle the heat," Poison snarled, using his 'I'm-the-boss-so-you'd-better-listen-to-me' tone. Or, as Kobra liked to call it, the 'you'd-better-fucking-knock-this-shit-off-or-I'll-shove-my-blaster-so-far-up-your-ass-you-won't-take-a-crap-for-two-months' tone. After shooting them both a strong glare, Poison shot his gaze back to the road. "Do something useful and keep an eye out. We're going to find the closest town and get supplies. We'll also stay there until Ghoul is as well as he needs to be to go out on runs. Till then I expect you two to pick up the slack his absence is gonna make." With that last growl, silence fell over the car, particularly the back seat. There was no point arguing once Poison announced his final decision.

Driving through the desert was unpleasant in itself. _Nothing here but dust and air._ Alert as they were, and with the stress of the situation, they almost felt sick. This couldn't happen, they couldn't lose one of their own. Especially such a strong fighter. Jet swallowed thickly from the humidity in the Trans, rolling down his window. Hot air hit him straight in the face, but it helped with the moisture in the car. His eyes stung from the bits of rock and sand flying at him, and with a swallow he squinted his eyes heavily. The orbs scanned for any break at all on the horizon. They widened slightly, seeing a formation of buildings in the distance.

"There!" he called out, gagging as a decent sized rock went into his mouth. Spitting it out the window, he winced yet again as his own spit hit him in his dust covered face. "To the right!" he added as the Trans' engine was spurred into a growl, the car rushing for that massive group of buildings.

 _Don't be a warehouse, don't be a warehouse._ Poison's eyes narrowed as he focused on keeping the engine roaring. He had to reach it! Every second they wasted could be Ghoul's last moments! Swearing softly to himself, he rushed into the town, nearly knocking over a sign perched on the right side of the road. Closing his eyes as a chunk of wood went flying, he managed to open them again to a squint, not even looking at the surroundings or people. It could've been a Draculoid colony for all he knew in that moment. _I gotta get someone, gotta stop, this isn't happening._ Poison swerved heavily, almost drifting as the car swung to a stop right in front of one of the buildings. The Trans let out a little lurch of protest as it handled the move, but showed no other signs of the strain of the stunt. As always, the car could handle anything and still look as smooth as a great pair of tits.

Hopping out, the redhead almost didn't remember his car keys, making a jerking motion at the last moment to grab them and slipping the ring around his middle finger, catching it on the dirtied brown cloth of his overworked right glove. Jogging as fast as he could, he found himself panting and out of breath by the time he reached someone. "I need a room…" he managed through gasps. He was feeling woozy from the fight and the stress, not to mention the lack of water. "My teammate… wounded, we need water and…" he gasped, his entire form rising and falling as he tried to get the words out. Vision blurring slightly, he shook his head, focusing back on the task at hand. Seeing he was speaking to an old woman who appeared to be of Mexican descent, he started over slower, blinking a few times before he continued. "I need a room." His voice was smoother this time, and he sounded more like himself. "My teammate was badly wounded and we are in dire need of water… get us these things straight away." Despite the more pleasing sound of his voice, there was still the ordering tone of a commander in battle.

The woman went pale as Jet and Kobra brought in Ghoul's damaged body. In a flurry of broken English, she slipped out, "I'm Mrs. Palafox—get your friend up to room, how you say…" She paused on the word, unsure of the translation, before the flurry began again. "Up the stairs and to your right, four doors down." She shooed them with a flick of her wrists and the throw of a key, and then she began to dart around to collect water for the men. She looked up only seconds later to see all four men gone and to hear the faint sound of footsteps rushing up the old staircase.

As soon as the key was placed into Poison's hand he took off like a shot. He had to get the door open before anyone else could get there—if Ghoul had to wait another second to be laid down… he shuddered at the thought. Taking the stairs two at a time, it still took him a good five minutes to reach the top. It must've been hell for the two carrying the youngest man. Hand shaking, he managed to jab the key into the hold and began turning it. Unfortunately, it seemed the lock was stuck, and with a long drawn out group of swears he jammed the key in deeper and used his foot to balance himself. A few wild jerks later he managed to get the door open with a unwilling creak. Turning to check over his shoulder, he frowned, seeing the others weren't up yet. One hopping motion later he was racing back down those godforsaken stairs, and nearly crashed into the three coming up.

Jet had Ghoul slung over his shoulder as one would carry a sack of potatoes or a child in jest. Kobra was busy checking the man's pulse. Losing balance as Jet made a motion to steady himself from Poison's onslaught, he frowned. The doorway to the second level loomed above them as they took off with the best speed they could. Nearly tripping twice, Kobra brought up the rear, helping to lay down the man in ripped clothes.

Jet seemed ready to collapse, but jumped up to head downstairs to check on that water. Approaching the bottom of the staircase, he saw the woman who had given them the key, two buckets of water slung over her back as if she were a Chinese merchant heading to sell a heavy product. With a gracious nod of thanks Jet-Star grabbed both of the pails and hurried back up the stairs, doing his best not to spill any of the sloshing liquid in his containers. His legs were almost ready to give out as he reached the top of the stairwell and did an odd sliding motion, crinkling the mauve rug under his feet.

Kobra had undone the bandages while they waited, Poison lurking worried at the foot of the bed all the while. A deep red wound had become visible at the center of each burn. Thick with newly forming scabs and oozing yellow pus, they were a sickening sight. Some trickles of blood would force their way out and pool near his navel every time the man took a breath. The burn on his arm was more shallow, but the flesh surrounding it was an angry red and farther spread. A sigh of relief found its way out of Kobra upon seeing Jet. One of the buckets was quickly taken and a rag soon dipped into the clear liquid. This pail would be used to clean the abrasions and help cool Ghoul's pale sweating form. Kobra hoped that doing so would wake Ghoul so that he could be helped with drinking the second.

The pus and scab rubbed off as Kobra tried to remove any dirt and sand around the afflicted area. As the team's medic, he was used to seeing this, and hearing Poison gag would have normally brought a chuckle out of his lips. But considering the dire situation, he was nowhere near smiling, let alone laughing. Once the task was completed he took the remaining water to soak the brightly-colored handkerchief as best he could, and Jet lifted the bucket to help as the water was poured down the man's pale, slender body.

Kobra's brows furrowed at the task of keeping the liquid from dripping off Ghoul's body. Kobra started at the neck and headed down, then came back up to wipe the sweat, dirt and blood flecks from the face.

Ghoul let out a tiny moan as the cool water dripped down his form, thick lashes parting to reveal hazel irises. Vision was something his eyes were striving for but hardly reaching. A few squints later he made out Kobra's hand. He knew it was Kobra's from length and shape. Just seeing that made his body let go of a bit of tension. His team was there, at least, and from the pain flooding his body he could assume he wasn't dusted, lying out in some dip in the sand. The wounded man let out a sigh, and an ounce of anxiety seemed to be lifted from the room.

Tugging his jacket off, Kobra took his flask to fill it with the unsoiled water and pressed it to Ghoul's lips. "Drink," he commanded, with the authority of an ER doctor who had been scared out of his mind. Tilting it back, he watched as Ghoul's adam's apple bobbed back and forth quickly as he gratefully accepted the heaven-sent drink. Once the flask was emptied, Kobra headed for more, repeating the motions with similar effects. After the sixth flask, Ghoul weakly pulled back with a wordless moan.

Slumping onto the bed behind Ghoul's, Kobra took a moment to drink in his surroundings. Poison was still standing, seemingly in shock, and staring at the man who was weakly panting. Ghoul himself looked horrible, his cheeks stained a deep red, though the rest of his body still had that waxy lemon tint. His chest moved slowly and painfully with every unwilling breath it accepted, and his hands were clenched into tight fists. From his position, Kobra observed that Ghoul was still fighting pain, and he made a mental note to try to get ahold of an herbal remedy for the pain. Cursing himself mentally for not having anything on hand at that moment, his eyes soon jumped to the other dark-haired man now slumped against the wall. It seemed his legs had finally given in to exhaustion and he'd just collapsed against the structure.

Running his hands through his dark curly hair, Jet looked like a shaking mess—not that anyone could blame him. The threat of losing a teammate was terrifying. Lifting his head and seeing a broken mirror on the other side of the room, the man's eyes met his own reflection and widened slightly from the sight. He was shaking violently himself, his features gone as white as Battery City. His sweat caused dark brown drips to descend from his hairline, painting his face as if he were an overly-zealous Alice Cooper fan. Swallowing, his eyes focused on how the man in the mirror's throat moved with his. Looking to hands, he could see the shaking better. It was as if he were a cell phone set on vibrate.

Resisting the urge to bury his face in his hands, Kobra looked up when his brother finally moved, first uncertainly sitting by the weak man, then standing once more. Poison seemed to be experiencing the most shock, and yet he also looked numbed. Perhaps for the moment that was kinder; however, Kobra frowned at the thought, since that would be similar to condoning exactly what Better Living was doing to the masses at this very moment! His lips parted as if to speak, but quickly snapped shut as his brother took a decisive step, then soon stomped out the door, his footsteps echoing as he headed down the stairwell.

Poison finally took a deep breath in, the action filling him with a mix of cooling relief and utter despair. His best friend could have died just then. The thought sat in his stomach like a rock at the bottom of a pool of water. Thickly swallowing, the red-haired man took a moment to take in his surroundings. The old stairwell's walls were a musty yellow-brown, cracked with age and lack of care. A border of torn wallpaper surrounded the wall pushing against the ceiling. The wallpaper was peeling and falling apart, the square designs within it warped into odd ovals and nameless shapes. Hand resting on the banister, he jumped slightly as the old barrier swayed. It was flimsier than he'd anticipated. A shudder crept up his back as he thought what could have happened if Ghoul had been set on there. Shaking it off, he continued his descent to the lower floor.

The old woman stood there timidly. Her winkled hands wrung a dirty washcloth. At one time it was probably white, but it was now dingy, covered with patches of grey and brown. Poison watched her hands, noticing that her knuckles were warped. He winced slightly. _Probably arthritis._ Probably why so much of this place was a dump. His eyes darted from the slightly gruesome scene to the room surrounding him. Everything within the walls seemed to have a thick coat of dirt and dust. Probably hadn't been cleaned in weeks, at the least. A mirror sitting over an oddly-colored coffee table was thick with spiderwebs, or so he thought. A few blinks revealed them to be cracks, with a few drops of dried blood at the center. Someone must have punched it, he thought. At second glance Poison realized the color from the coffee table wasn't natural, because it had bleached spots as if set out in the sun. Perhaps an outdoor table? Another thick swallow came on. The ability to take in his surroundings quickly came fairly naturally to him, but was hyped up due to life on the run. _Survey, decide, overcome, survive._ That seemed to be how life out here was. He didn't even notice the elderly woman move from standing by the old desk to sitting on one of the dusty couches. Only the faint sound of coughing made him realize she was even still in the room. How long had he been looking around? A red tint covered his cheeks, but he shook the feeling off, dismissing it as a reaction to the heat.

"Your friend," came her old, accented voice. "He is okay, yes?" She arched a thick, dark brow. There were undertones of black not only in her hair but also in her brows. She had a proud chin and defined cheekbones—a mix of Native American and Mexican? Thick lines surrounded her mouth. She not only gave off a sense of pain and worry, but also an age-old wisdom, one that came from a grandmother who'd learned enough to change her, experienced enough tragedy that she feared for anyone in her path. The silence stretched on for a few minutes before her thickly-accented voice carried on, "I know who you and your friends are…"

A tremor went up his spine. Thankful that his mask was still on, he contemplated a response, feeling the color drain from his face. Jet and Kobra… even Ghoul… they didn't have masks on. If this place had surveillance… which he doubted, considering the age and condition of the hotel, but… if it did, she could turn them in to BLI… at least, she could turn in their full images. His blood ran cold at the thought. A confirmed killjoy sighting would put Better Living in an uproar. Before he could respond, the same raspy voice spoke again.

"Do not give me such a look, young one," she scolded, gently shaking her head, her dark eyelids shutting over her brown eyes. It was almost a sad, pitying action. Poison's blood ran colder. This woman pitied him?! Feeling his face burn red with a flash of anger, he found his response cut off. "I not turn in you and your friends… you may stay here as long as your friend needs to find himself healed. I charge not, but perhaps you help me clean?" she offered. Even in her hoarse voice it could be heard she was trying to be soft, trying to help these men, fugitives that she didn't even know. "I am old, cannot clean you see." Her hand motioned to the dust-coated walls and furniture. "Cannot reach the spider webs and such." She swallowed thickly, a bit parched herself. "You clean and fix, I let you stay," she said firmly, with a swift nod, not so much asking him as telling him.

At first, Poison felt the need to argue with this woman, but he shut his mouth when his eyes again rested weakly on her gnarled hands. Her fingers almost looked like old tree trunks, curled and falling apart with age… though she _did_ give them water and a bed… a frown caught his lips at the next thought. She could just as well be lying. Better Living could be on their way as he stood here deciding. Trust outside of his team was so foreign to him at this point. However, he nodded. "A'ight, I guess we could help ya out… bu—"

"Start tomorrow!" She waved him off, with her hand holding the dirtied rag, standing hunched over. Her entire being reminded Poison somewhat of a pear—her body shape, the horrid green muumuu she was sporting, the shade of her hair and skin against the color… and her personality, a bit. "I give you list, you finish, I give food, water and bed. Now go sleep, change clothes, you look as if pig!" she scolded, and waved her rag at him, forcing him up the stairs to avoid it.

Thickly swallowing, the man obeyed, but by the time he reached the top of the stairs he was fuming. Who the hell was she to tell him, Party Poison, how to dress? To dismiss him? But his thoughts flew back to her hands, and that aged look on her face, and the wisdom he could feel swirling around her as if her aura were real… and the thoughts took over him. As unsafe as he worried he was… he didn't feel unsafe. A sweet scent faintly caught his nostrils. incense? It'd been years since he smelled that… it had a comforting, almost homey smell that caused his stress level to fall significantly. It reminded him of a time before the wars, before this pain and destruction, before he had to make choices he could never take back. They were dangerous, the thoughts that swirled in his head, too safe, too perfect and unreal. Most of all, they brought back too many emotions for him to handle under this stress. Poison trudged back into the room holding his head up, his arrogance back in place.

Turning to the two conscious men in the room, Poison pulled his 'leader' voice back out. "We'll be staying here until Ghoul heals, and in return we're helping the old crone fix this dump up. I expect daily monitoring to be upheld, not only around this place and in town, but also in our usual target spots as well. We need to get ahold of CB straight away and contact D. He'll be pretty goddamn pissed when he hears this one."

Poison's voice was a low hiss, although he was barking these common-sense orders at them like a general. No one argued or rolled their eyes, or even mumbled something sarcastic about 'captain obvious' to the man. Clearing his throat, Poison continued. "Someone needs to be by Ghoul's side at all times, and as soon as he's healed up we're out of here. Now Jet, you're going to scout out the town, see if there is any possibility of a threat here. If there is you'll report back straight away and we'll take care of it. Kobra, you clean up first, we need ya to be able to take care of Ghoul given the chance somethin' goes wrong. I'll take the first shift of watching him, and once Jet gets back he can shower and Kobra'll watch him, then we'll go from there… is that clear?" His voice dropped to a dangerous hiss, and he wasn't even aware that he could have been repeating himself. Poison was focused on the goal. _Get the fuck outta here and move the fuck on._

With a quick nod, Jet-Star took off, running his hand through his greasy, ratty mess of hair. Hopping to skip the last four stairs or so, he jogged out of the door. His eyes scanned the town set before him. The sidewalks were paved with gravel, and the streets were plain dirt. Simple enough to get away on, he mentally noted for his report back to Poison. His feet finally decided to slow to a casual pace as he headed down the road to examine the buildings. For a town not under the control of BLI, it seemed to be a fairly decent size. At this time, the sun was going down, so, thankfully, not too many people were on the roads. Making a few more mental notes, he observed an all-night diner not too far from the inn. The scent of coffee hung thick in the air when the door swung open as a few patrons entered. It made his mouth water. Wiping at his chapped lips with the back of his hand before running his tongue over them, he could faintly taste blood. God dammit. That would be a bitch to deal with later.

In addition to the diner, there was a small general store, a medic station, a weapons dealer, a car garage, a tattoo parlor, and a load of unmarked buildings. The town was torn between a "wild west" feeling and the aura of a run-down back alley of a city. Quite the odd mix. The sun was setting and Jet's brows furrowed, since there didn't seem to be much of a threat in this town. Then again, that was quite a bit more alarming than if there was. It was like if you jumped into a tank full of piranhas but weren't getting eaten alive… chances are there was a shark around. The thought made his hair stand on end as he walked back into the inn. A few quick glances around proved that there wasn't any Drac hiding there. The only thing he could hope was that the guys were still in the room, just fucking around, and not lying dead or dying from blaster wounds.

The walk up the staircase was agonizing, everything was so quiet. While the desert got quiet, it was rarely this eerie. Jet's hand dropped to his dark blue blaster… he didn't draw it, but just having his hand on the hilt made him feel a bit calmer. The stairs creaked under his feet and his hair stood on end, his heartbeat taking off. He was a nervous wreck. Everything about this place at night was screaming for him to bolt—forget your shit, your teammates, just get to the fucking car and drive like Korse was hot on your tail. As he ascended, the view seemed to get even darker. There were no dimly-lit yellow lights or slow-burning candles along this corridor. Each step of his dirt-encrusted boot gave off a maddening creak. Head and palms beginning to pound, it felt like his heart was about to leap out past his lips.

Finally reaching the door to the room where his teammates were last, he could hear soft mumbles coming from the other side. His ear pressed against the door as he tried to make out the voices behind those noises. When he couldn't, he drew his blaster, and in one swift motion he opened the door, blaster aimed and at the ready. "Freeze, fuc—"

A very annoyed-looking Poison shot him a glare. "Jet, what the fuck is wrong with you?" His eyes fell to a plate of what looked to be rice and beans in his lap. Ghoul was sitting up and eating something that looked halfway between a burrito and an enchilada. Smacking away happily, he gave Jet a small, very Ghoul-like smirk. Obviously, he was enjoying this. A soft bang came from the bathroom from where a clean Kobra emerged, steam drifting out of the dimly lit room behind him.

"Damn!" Kobra exclaimed as he stretched, towel draped lightly around his slim hips. "Fucking hot water, man. I could have lived in there for the rest of my life! Is there any food left or did fuckface down it al—Jet, what the fuck are you doing?" Kobra arched a heavy brow and dropped his arms, steam still rolling off his tanned form as his limbs crossed. When the man began stumbling over his words, Kobra rolled his eyes. "Well, at least lower the damn gun!" he joked, as he slid onto the unoccupied bed.

Jet stammered a bit more before finally taking Kobra's advice and lowering his weapon. He was honestly shocked. What he was thinking before… it was so real! Or was it? It must've just been his mind playing tricks on him, new location and all… plus, wave heads always gave him the creeps. Once his gun was safely charging back in his holster, he shut the door that had remained ajar from his rough treatment. "Where the fuck did you guys get that?" he asked, trying to control his drooling.

"The old bat," came Poison's swift answer. "She wanted to make sure we got plenty into Ghoul to help him 'heal up.' I personally think it's a punishment for allowing a madman to go into her town unsupervised." He added, "Give Ghoul all the rice and beans, get him nice and gassed up to stink up the room and make us suffer even worse than having to give him a sponge bat—" A pillow collided with Poison's head with enough force to push him forward.

"Hey, shut the fuck up!" Ghoul quickly snapped at him. "You know you can't wait to get your hands on my sexy body!" Normally, this would be accompanied by his stroking his own chest and hips and doing a little wiggle to shake his goods, but it seemed that even though his spirits were back up, he was hurting pretty badly.

Jet rolled his eyes at his group. "Anything for me?" Poison motioned to a covered plate on the nightstand, one Ghoul had been eyeing with heavy interest. Jet shot him a bit of a glare. Healing or not, Ghoul sure as hell wasn't getting his little inked-up hands on Jet's food… he would sooner throw him out the window. Real food was too hard to come by. Jet made a beeline toward it but was stopped by Kobra's arm in front of his body.

"Go shower first, man, you fucking reek. Plus, I'm sure it'll taste better without dirt as a topping." The man chuckled a bit to himself at his own joke, oblivious to Jet's glare, and helped himself to his own covered plate. It had one of those creations Ghoul had been eating along with a serving of rice, beans and what he assumed were peppers. Scooting the spicy food to the side, Kobra felt torn. Did he dig in and stuff his face right away? Or take it slow, and enjoy the food while he could? With a shrug, he began piling the food into his mouth. As he licked off what got on his newly-clean fingers, he made fake orgasm noises. Ignoring the eye rolls at his own expense, he kept downing the food, considering trying to talk between his mouthfuls, but deciding he'd rather have food than conversation at the moment.

Jet scoffed at Kobra—he ate like a starved dog! Glancing to his covered plate and back to the steamy shower, he sighed in defeat. "Ghoul, if you so much as think about touching my food, I swear to god, I will kick your ass to Battery and back again. I'll even let Korse carve his name into your ass with a shiv." Shooting both Ghoul and Poison a deadly look, he headed for the shower and shut the door, the sound of rushing water following soon after.

Poison sat back, almost licking his plate as he finished it. He swore to himself, remembering he should've asked Jet for that status report before he was shooed off to clean up. He frowned and started to stand up, debating on disturbing his shower to get it, but the idea of seeing Jet's junk again made him shake his head and even mumble to himself, "No fuckin' way I'm going in there." Along with the unappealing idea of seeing Jet's bits, there was something about this place, a relaxing feeling swooping over him. Maybe it was that smell that reminded him so much of home, or the helpful woman sleeping downstairs, but something deep in his soul just told him he was safe here, as if all this was meant to happen and they belonged here. Knowing the Zones were their home, a small frown tugged at his dry lips. How long would this feeling last? How long would it take for Ghoul to heal, and, most of all, why did he give a shit? Attachments were dangerous, whether they were to people or places. Nothing was definite in life before Better Living, and post-takeover it was even worse. Full families, towns, anything would be there one day, and then be cleaned out the next. Occasionally, ashes of the burning buildings mixed in with the sand, or some aimless book, toy, or piece of discarded furniture would be left to be found sticking out of the sand. But those weren't the worst souvenirs of Better Living's attacks. Even more rarely spotted, but spotted nonetheless, were human remains, not often full corpses but arms, hands, or rib bones, some of them small enough to fit fully in a man's hand. Children slaughtered when their parents wouldn't comply. Families destroyed because they refused to give in. Just the thought made Poison's stomach drop. How many innocent kids and even babies died because of this rebellion? How many times had they seen those kids runnin' 'round the Zones trying to copy them, trying be like them and force the revolution to continue? So many deaths were pointless. Not that they should have stayed in Battery, hell no. But finding a decent neutral town, waiting this shit out… man, that would be the best option for 'em. Or finding some way outta the Zones, at least.

As unlikely as it seemed, between Tommy, Dr. D, and Pony—even Cherri Cola—they were trying to find just that. Somewhere the radiation was easing up, just enough to make it livable, so they could keep pushing it back until they could create a hole of hidden safe-houses. It amazed Poison, the stupid choices people made at the end of the world. People fucked and ended up knocked up. Either the dude would run like hell or step up. Either way he was screwed, because stepping up usually meant they had to quit running and focus on protectin' the woman till the kid was out, then protectin' the kid 'til it was old enough to fend for itself. Sometimes it seemed Better Living loved targeting kids. Well, of course, you got a kid as a hostage, and the parents would do anything to save it… surrender, accept their choices, even die if it kept their kid from bein' killed. If the man ran off there'd always be that naggin' question. While, sure—there were some guys who couldn't give a shit—he imagined at least some of 'em would worry, since in this life family bonds, whether tied by blood or friendship, were all you got. To abandon that, you'd have to be some heartless fucker.

The redheaded man tried to shake the thoughts from his head. The only thing that snapped him out of it was Ghoul's loud snoring. The water was still running in the other room. Poison's eyes met his brother's relaxed form. The younger man was laid out, his tired eyes drooping, finally relaxed from his shower. Poison moved his shoulder in its socket with a slight wince, since his muscles were tight from the stress of pushing himself as hard as he did that day. He knew his eyes must've been red from the irritation he felt in them. He winced and picked at the inner corner of one eye as an eyelash fell in. He swore as a dirty nail just barely touched his eyeball, causing him to jerk it back.

Kobra jumped slightly from his brother's sudden commotion, but felt his heavy lids fall again. The fight, Ghoul's injury, the treatment… it took a lot out of him. Now. here he was, warm and relaxed from that hot shower, in a comfy bed with clean, soft sheets. It was hard not to lose himself in the moment. Sliding against the blankets, the blond let out a contented sigh, his dark lids finally closing. Cutting off the one sense made him appreciate where he was even more. While the walls were dirty and dusty, the linens were kept clean, and compared to his sleeping bag it was like sleeping on a fragrant cloud. Hell, even the ratty carpet would be heaven compared to sleeping outside, but this… this was beyond that. He detected another faint, sweet smell… must've been that incense his brother had mentioned. He was right, it did make him feel like he was at home. Hugging his pillow tight to his chest, he smiled softly, allowing himself to be the adorable dork he really was deep down. Even if it was just for a moment, and no one could see it, Kobra Kid had never really grown out of his shy awkwardness. And for once it felt nice to just be that part of him and not the stressed-out, serious medic he had to be when they were running.

About an hour later, the rushing of the water stopped with a small bang. Poison jerked awake from his lulled state, remembering he was keeping watch. He blinked a few times to see Jet's dripping form emerge; however, he was still wearing his jeans and a loose tank top, unlike Kobra's more… relaxed attire. Considering there were only two beds and four men, well, they'd wanna be as clothed as possible, considering no one could really control morning wood at times. There was nothing more awkward than waking up with a raging boner while spooning your teammate. Thank God it'd never happened to him, but he was sure it had to someone, and, well, he wasn't planning on experiencing that himself any time soon. Seemed Jet had the same thought, as the man gave Poison a quick nod, quickly glancing at the food and soon slumping onto the far side of the bed, facing away from Kobra. Loud snores soon filled the room. That was the last thing Poison heard before he too found himself drifting into an uneasy sleep.


	2. Radioactive Waves

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The deep auburn, beige and deep brown spirals on top forgotten for the flashes of deep damage in it. On each side was an oversized pleather chair. They were lashing a color that was a mix of 'baby shit' yellow and lime green. The surface was cracked, and covered in its own scratch marks, though they appeared unintentional, just the usual wear and tear of /br /Aside from its appearance it still gave off the feeling of safety, the scent of homemade bread spiraled through the air as if it were a cheesy commercial. The smell lingered with the incense of the night before, the mix brought to mind a visit to a psychic. The need to make one's guests feel welcome, but with a mystic eerie feeling that could make even the biggest skeptic believe in magic and unicorns. Even the worn chairs provided comfort, then again if one was staying in the middle of nowhere with naught but rocks, sand and an old car to sit in, the most lumpy couch would seem like a garden of Eden. The room was quite small, hardly large enough for the makeshift sitting area and full sized beds, the carpet was a dirty, musty brown. Probably beige, white or some neutral color that had taken abuse from many a shoe and bag. It was on this floor that Ghoul discarded his opened vest, in the middle of a debate between his /br /"I don't wanna stay here! Why do you guys get'ta go? Just get me a wheelchair like D's! C'mon! I feel better!" The younger man was protesting with his best puppy dog pout. Big eyes, the works, he usually tried this when it came to getting his way, though; it rarely worked, to his own disappointment. Nonetheless, he would always try and pray that it would one day work its magic as it had worked on many women before. He was a genius in the way of the female, and loved to brag about it to no end, although it usually just earned him a few laughs and eye rolls, they even accused him of never sleeping with a girl! This of course was total bullshit, with a gorgeous mug like this, who wouldn't want a piece of Ghoul?br /br /"Don't even think about it," Poison snapped behind a clenched jaw. "Not only would that be a bitch to find, it would probably break down! Then I'd be the one stuck pushing you while you decide to rock the chair and drive me nuts!" his hazel eyes met the other man's with a heavy glare. That look, oh god, was Ghoul that fucking desperate to come along? A small sigh escaped his lips. "Fine!" Poison cried out, giving in. "If we managed to come across one… We'll pick it up, if it breaks down you're staying there!" This of course was total bullshit, he could no less leave his own brother behind, as much as he liked to remind Ghoul that he wasn't related, the man was practically blood. Especially when he decided to pull pranks, like the time he painted the Trans pink, oh but not just any pink, the same pink as those nasty ass candy hearts people once gave out for valentines. The ones that were like flavored chalk. "Do you hear me buddy boy?!" came his last snarl before the man busted /br /Although laughing hurt, Ghoul just couldn't help it! "B-b-buddy boy?! Pfff! What is this, the nineteen-fucking-fifties?!" he managed to keep jabbing Poison's choice of words between his heavy guffaws. "Whats the next one? Bucko? Gonna start talking all 'now see here mista,' that is just too funny!" The laughter continued until tears stung his eyes and the pain got to be too much, he laid back wheezing slightly, causing Kobra to dart over in concern, this wasn't good. br /br /His brows were furrowed as he looked over Ghoul's wounds, some bleeding but nothing too bad. He looked to Ghoul "You can't get yourself riled up like that, it's gonna risk bleeding, and if I'm not around..." he began to scold but froze, shaking the thought out of his head. "Just... Just stay in bed, a'ight? Do your best to sleep, etcetera..." With a swallow and shake of his head, Kobra turned to gear up, his red jacket releasing a small cloud of dust as he jerked the item onto his /br /Poison nodded in agreement. "Just get your dumbass self some sleep so we can move on." Once said, he turned to head out the door, running his hand through his newly cleaned hair. The hallway was now lit, much to Jet's obvious pleasure. After last night, man, he was ready to high tail it out of there, but now it was nowhere near as freaky. The night before they were too distracted by, well, Ghoul, to really take in the ruin of this inn. Spider webs and cracks, dusty furniture falling apart, even the doorknobs were twisted loose, it looked like if you even touched one they would shatter, the tarnished metal flying through the air like glitter from a child's birthday /br /Another trip down the old staircase and they came face to face with the woman who let them in. Arching a salt-and-pepper brow at them, her wrinkled face stuck in a skeptic glance, "Be back, near six," she muttered under her breath, despite the distance the smell of fish oil and garlic rolled off of her in waves, it seemed. A rather overpowering combination it was. "You must do work, I have list for you," she added firmly and straightened her back to the best of her ability. Despite this, she still hardly came up past Poison's shoulders. With a slight nod from each man they walked past her, dark eyes following their every move as her old cracked lips pushed into a straight line. br /br /They flipped their shades on as the door closed with a muffled noise. Jet was instantly alert, eyes scanning everywhere. It was more crowded than before, but not much. Occasional groups of people stood, laughing and talking, probably about the day, or what they had planned. Their outfits were in various stages, some were just in civilian street clothes, others wore full out desert garb. One group of four girls were looking their way and giggling, they couldn't have been more than sixteen, yet they wore killjoy attire, and something about that made Poison's stomach sink. These kids saw them running around and followed them, they were risking their lives. And so many of them lost their families, or would get hurt, even forfeiting their lives to mimic them…br /br /While their cause was important, was it really worth all these kids dying over it? It was one thing for them, the thirty-or-so-odd men to be aware of the cost if they lost a fight. But could a child really understand that? A life long lost before it even began? He blamed himself to be honest; some nights when sleep wouldn't find its way to him for hours, he would lie and stare off into nothing. Plagued by guilt of pain and murder. He could have put his gun to those kid's heads and pulled the trigger, which would have been kinder. Yet, something about dying in this life seemed better. There weren't too many choices out here, conform to Better Living, run in the desert, or settle down in a community like this and risk problems for both sides. Maybe death was the best choice…br /br /This town probably was threatened at all times. Whether it be Dracs blowing in, or Killjoys who thought they were giving in. Looking to the small towns boundary line he squinted slightly. Imaginary people running in and out through his line of sight. Kids being taken, people killed, All over what? A choice to not fight but not wanting to be controlled, something about this made him feel even sicker. He WAS mad at these people; if half the adults in this town were to fight they could make a huge difference, but... His eyes moved to rest on a small family, single mother and two kids. Someone like that had to stay behind, but the burly man behind her could fight. He swallowed, eating his own words as the man handed her a loaf of bread with a smile. br /br /The people here depended on each other. If they took out all the men and laborers, the town would fall apart. Women can't fix everything and take care of their families, and gain produce. He began internally beating himself up. How could he even imagine recruiting these men, it would destroy their way of life. Then again, their cause was important too! All those innocents under control, these people were pretending that it didn't exist!br /br /The internal battle ebbed and flowed in his mind, he moved to tug at his fair face turning red, torn between his way of life and any compassion for others. Soon he was making a spectacle of himself. Kobra reached to touch his shoulder, brows furrowed with honest worry and concern. br /br /"Poison?" the younger man's voice shook slightly, a small wrinkle formed above the bridge of his nose. "Are you alright?" Kobra tried to keep his voice lowered as to not draw any more attention than /br /Poison let out a small groan and shook his head; a fine coat of dust had coated him in the time he had spaced out. The dirt flew off his hair creating a small dust cloud around his head. A few coughs and sneezes later his tired eyes set on his brother. He looked more aged than tired, the bags under his eyes more defined as if he hadn't slept in a few days. The man swallowed as his gaze met the ground. Guilt and shame painted his features, he was also mourning. For those deaths he caused, for those kids who he couldn't protect. That's what they were trying to do, protect human life at the costs of many /br /"Poison," Kobra whispered again and rubbed his back weakly, he couldn't stand to see his brother this way. Poison was the leader; he took all responsibility in some ways. As much as he tried to avoid it, Kobra knew this would one day take its toll. As much as he pretended he wasn't, his brother was a caring guy; in fact he cared so much, that it killed him. "It isn't your fault," he addressed, his voice quiet but firm in its message. "It's not your fault that tho-"br /br /"Where do you think they first saw it?! Where do you think they got the idea, Kobra?! We were the ones who started running out here! They saw us and wanted to help! Wanted to be like us! These are fucking kids! They have no idea what they're giving up, what they're risking! Abandoning their families to play Cowboys and Indians! They think they're becoming huge heroes but they're not!" Poison was doing his best to keep his voice at a stinging whisper, he was still cornered as to who might be watching. "All they're gonna do is end up getting killed for this… They're just kids, Ko… At their age we were hiding in the basement and reading comic books, not out risking our lives for something we could avoid!"br /br /"Times have changed," Kobra's quick reply. "During the second World War, kids at this age would falsify documents to join the war, if it was what they really wanted to do they found a way to do it." With a shake of his head he paused and swallowed. "And that's what these kids are doing, it's not just us, they believe in our cause, our goal, what we're trying to do here... They want to see the city liberated as much as we do! Their friends, their families, all of it back. They want to see their loved ones just like them, able to feel! Able to think for themselves, to enjoy life again!"br /br /Poison glowered for a moment but his face soon fell back to sorrow. Closing his eyes he thought about his brother's words, how passionate they were, his mind took him back. If it were the same situation and he was sixteen, fifteen, hell even fourteen; and his brother was under Better Living's control. He would go out there in an instant; he would do whatever it took to help him, his baby brother. He loved that kid more than anything, even that young. Kobra had always been his best friend, let alone the idea of all his friends and family… all numb to life. He opened his eyes, a new fierceness there. "We need to get to a CB," he growled with a new passion to his cause. They would win this fight, not only for the kids that were lost, but the ones who were still locked up and suffering in that womb of lives that they called Battery /br /"That's my brother!" Kobra grinned and wrapped his arm around Poison. They walked around the town searching for a working CB, eventually finding one in the backroom of the general store. Once they had shut the door into the light brown room they checked on the waves to find the familiar frequency that would lead them to their /br /"D here, speak," came a familiar, gravelly voice, the gruff sound of teeth grinding followed the sound. He must have been trying to quit smoking again, every time his temper got shorter and he ground his teeth louder, Ghoul would always joke they should just record the noise and play it through the streets of Battery to annoy everyone in Better Living to death. However D didn't find the joke so funny and it earned the young man a few smacks of a cane to the /br /Poison's eyes were still determined, "It's Poison, Ghoul got hurt, we're in a small town outsida the Zone lines, we're stuck 'ere till he can move again, we're gonna need a motorized chair and a shitton of time, but we're ready to be running missions again." His teeth were gritted as his body shook so full of rage, he was ready to take on the entire world for /br /D let out a loud groan and rubbed his brows before pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb "He's that bad off, huh?" the man managed to grunt out, pulling his hand back to stare at the calloused flesh. Of course the man already knew the answer, he was Dr. Death Defying! He knew every single thing that went down in the /br /"He can hardly sit up, you're gonna have to find us, I don't have coordinates and I'm not sure how safe this line is, just hurry with this one… Have there been any big raids?" It may have only been a day but sometimes that's all it took for all hell to break /br /"A'ight, I'll see what I can do. There was a pretty bad one out in Zone two yesterday…three dusted, two were ours." the older man grunted before hanging up the mic and turning to his polka dotted assistant. Sighing and shaking his head, he grumbled something along the lines of 'These fucking kids are gonna be the death of me,' closing his eyes. The whirr of his wheel chair filled the small colorful ragtag station as he moved to do what he /br /Poison hung up the CB nodding to his team, he was ready for this. "We're going out to Zone two," he announced. That attack would be a hotspot for a while and he needed to take down some fuckin' Drac scum that was the best fix out here in the zones. Hearing those assholes hit the ground one by one, the sizzle of the air in a fight, that fixed ya no matter what mood you were /br /Jet and Kobra nodded in unison, both zipping up their jackets. Jet headed out first as Kobra shot his brother a grin. He was back to normal and nothing would take this away. The brothers headed out, joining their remaining member, Jet was waiting by the trans and pulled his bandana over his mouth, ready to be in a real fight /br /The men hopped into the car, and Poison revved the engine and drove out of town. A large dust cloud forming behind them, Poison's hands were shaking violently, it was affecting the car's path. He was gritting his teeth and sweat was budding on the nape of his neck as he glared into the horizon. "We're gonna kick some Draculoid ass," he hissed as the car hit the road of route guano. The familiar road provided a different comfort: Reality. This was his world and he was gonna fucking show them how to do /br /Finding a former raid wasn't too hard, the scent of gunpowder filled the air and let you know you were close, usually a wrecked campsite was the best sign. Sure enough, a few singed sleeping bags and a poorly extinguished fire were waiting for them. A corpse lay next to the circle of rocks; a white suit dirtied with sand, the head was forced into the charred pile of rocks as if they were trying to burn the mask from the enemy's /br /The three men exited the car and looked around the site. Two more bodies were stiff in the sand, the winds must've been harsh last night as they were half buried and not much more than mounds of sand. Jet headed for the bags, a few items strewn around. Some herbs and half full bottles of water, it felt like one of those video games, where you'd take things from the dead to keep yourself going. But this was life, you couldn't just reset it and hope to keep /br /Collecting the items, he discarded them in his ample pockets. Kobra headed for the bodies, burying them in silence, there were no signs of any Dracs right now and with him being a medic he had to make sure that they were buried properly as well. Call him superstitious, but he didn't want to be haunted by the ghosts of those uncared for after /br /Poison kept an eye out; there was no sign of them on the horizon. He almost shook in fury, he needed to blow some steam off, but there wasn't much else he could do to let this rage out. Hazel eyes squinted, trying to keep the glare off his eyes, the…glare?! Sure enough there was a beam of light sparkling off a windshield. A white car sped for them; a smirk grew on his covered lips, perfect. br /br /Jet dropped his searching hand on his gun, he began to fire first. He crouched behind a sand dune and focused on the car's tires, they needed to fight on even ground, and needed to take them down quickly. Poison let out a dark chuckle as one of the tires blew out, bits of black exploded and the car spun out hitting a dune. The driver's head was smashed against the dashboard; blood splattered against the glass, dripping down as if Poe himself had designed the sight. The passenger door swung open, and a man's white suit was stained with the blood of his partner, gun raised and firing at the three /br /The hot sizzle filled the air, it got Kobra's blood pumping, pupils dilated with the adrenaline now rushing through his veins. More men piled out of the car, each with a different degree of blood spatter on them. The shots flew wildly. The Dracs were taking all the hits, really, the three colorful men more alert and ready than ever. Nothing quite like that to get Poison's blood singing with /br /Each blast left red marks and swelling, blood flowing from the wounds mingling with the blood that was already covering their bodies. Jet was grinning, eyes lit up, with the expectancy of the bodies falling, slumping in the sand with the sound of their victory. This was a high no one else could know, not unless you loved fighting with the same passion as this group /br /The opponents were advancing on them, however, the shots getting closer to their bodies. They dragged this out long enough, with a flick of the wrist Jet brought down two of the masked men and Kobra gave the third a violent headshot. Ghoul would have loved to be in on this, Kobra thought, shaking his head as he moved over to kick the bodies to be certain of their deaths. He nodded three times; all dead, the smoke still rolling off the blast marks on their /br /Panting heavily Poison slumped down in the sand; his brilliant yellow blaster's barrel was emitting a foul smell along with the usual smoke. It was the usual post-fight scenario. He felt a bit out of practice, even after one day, he needed to keep this up daily, every hour he wasn't fighting felt like days... He just sat there for a while, reflecting on the soothing endorphins filling his entire form. The man only jumped up hearing tires hit dirt, the sound was familiar. Poison blinked to see D's /br /Kobra was stretching his stiff muscles as the driver's door opened, a youthful face emerged. Sand clung to his slim stomach along with his once white clothing. His skates sunk into the ground slightly but that didn't stop him from smoothly transitioning over. The red design on his face was highlighting his features. "Had some fun?" He asked with a chuckle. "The old man figured you'd come here right away so I wanted to drop off some supplies," he opened the side of the van, pulling out the wheel chair along with a bag of herbs. He handed the items over and pulled a wad of carbons from his tight undershirt. "D figured you might need these," he winked as Kobra took the cash. "Stay safe guys, I have to get back to work," he chuckled as Poison opened his mouth, Pony never stuck around for long but God be damned if he wasn't a life /br /Kobra shifted through the crumpled bills and counted. "We got three hundred carbons," he whispered and shoved a third of them to the other two men, they might need them later on, you never know when you need to bribe someone to keep their mouth shut. Threatening with a blaster didn't always go over the best..br /br /Nodding to each other and loading up the car, Jet hopped in the front this time, him and Kobra sorting through the various dry herbs and sniffing them. Most herbs could be eaten plain or brewed into a very bitter tea. It depended on if the victim could swallow easily or not. The most important thing was not to mistake the herbs; they could be poisonous if you didn't know the right herbs to mix. Or if you used a topical mixture as an edible /br /The plants could be sorted from scent; the more bitter the smell the more potent it was. Most of the jars that were taken off the campsite were just mild in odor. Nothing too special but they'd help with pain and dizzy spells. The jars from pony however had a strong distinct smell that reminded Jet of cannabis, the way that it would fill the room even if you only opened it a little bit. These could cure anything that ailed ya, they were expensive to boot, where could he have… Oh, of course, Tommy would have them. They must've cost a pretty penny, though…br /br /Hitting the asphalt again, Jet sorted through the other items they grabbed. The two flasks were shaken, about half filled with water, and water was worth ten times its weight in gold out here. It was the distinct line between life and death, people who had it had power out here, however hoarding it wasn't always the best idea, it got so hot that it could evaporate quicker than it takes for a blast to the chest to kill ya. A small charm was tied around one of the containers, just twine and the item itself. A sandstone carved peace sign with ribbons of red, bringing to mind a rainbow. Jet gripped the charm and slid it into his jacket pocket; he would dispose of it later on. Usually these little memories were burned in honor of those who fell. He shook his head and closed his /br /Heading back into town they pulled up in front of the inn, nodding a hello to Mrs. Palafox with the wheelchair strapped over Jet's back. Heading up the lengthy stairs, they went to see Ghoul. When Jet reached the room, he carried the chair in with a smile. "We got ya some help," he /br /Ghoul looked over with tired eyes and waved them off with a big yawn. "Sleep first," he mumbled and slumped back into his sheets, cuddling his pillow. He was content resting up, this earned him a few eye rolls, Lazy ass. The men set up the chair for him and headed back down, they had to get back to their /br /Downstairs and back into the sun, they were each glancing around. They needed to explore the town more today, get a taste of what these people offered. The threat risk, all of it, one hint of perfection and they would have to get out of here, maybe head to D's station and annoy the shit outta him for a while. With a tilt of his head, Jet saw the diner, it looked packed and lively. Stomach rumbling with need, he glanced at Poison and Kobra, both seemed to be on the same page, their stomachs audible as well. br /br /"Food?" The dark haired man offered with a heavy arched brow, and by the look on the other's faces the answer was obvious. The three men strode across the dirt road, ignoring the somewhat paved walkways and ducked inside the diner. It was actually quiet despite the crowd inside, mainly just groups of adults and teens seated around the rectangular beige tables. Aside from the tile immediately under their feet, the rest of the diner seemed to be somewhat clean and well kept. As well kept as you could keep out here, anyway. The smell of food drifted around and had their mouths watering, and without thinking they seated themselves into an empty booth. The surface of the table had small cracks and marks in it, it was obviously once white, but time in the desert, and people being unclean had stained it like coffee stains /br /Where there once sat sweeteners and salt there now were four small menus, poorly laminated as if they were done by a school teacher in a rush, but the food on said menus were enough to make Poison's jaw drop. They had meat… It was probably horse meat… or something like that. Hopefully an animal… The idea of a Donner party or Sweeney Todd situation entered his mind but Poison shook it off. This sounded great, a platter of pastries and coffee passed by, coffee with cream, real fucking cream!br /br /This was bliss, almost too good to be true, that thought snapped Poison out of it, resting his hand on his blaster as a waitress came up. She looked young aside from the deep dimples on her cheeks and bags under her eyes. Dirt and grease were smudged on her baby blue uniform. She wore a half assed smile along with it showing the front of her slightly stained teeth. "What can I get you guys?" she managed out with a small sigh. Her hip jutted out to the side, notepad resting lazily in her hands as she glanced at them with tired /br /Poison blinked and frowned softly. "Just a coffee and uh," he blinked, examining the plain menu and squinting slightly he lifted his own goggles up, it seemed to be fine, no one had swarmed them, no one had called their names, they were just anonymous wanderers here. "Fuck, anything sounds good," he frowned and glanced at his /br /Kobra was almost drooling, "U-uh… Large coffee and… The biggest steak you have!" the words came out similar to a foggy moan, real meat, even if it wasn't fully meat…but anything that tasted like real meat would be better than sex in a jar of peanut butter right now!br /br /"What he said," Jet mumbled, as he glanced through the menus leaning back. "Easy on the sugar and no cream," he half muttered, looking through the menu with a furrowed brow. "Hey so, what's the deal with this combo?" he pointed to a section of the laminated menu, looking to the waitress with a brow arched, it was just worded /br /The waitress blinked and squinted down at the menu, a finger twisting her tied up violet hair. She bit her lower lip heavily and muttered something to herself, clearing her throat she realized all men were waiting on her "I-I… I uh, I think that one's outdated, sorry, we haven't really had a chance to update the menus in a while," she kept mumbling a few things that they couldn't make out as she glanced over her shoulder, flipping through the notebook of orders. "Uh, anyway," she turned to Poison again, "For you?' she arched a /br /The leader coughed, his brow falling from its inquisitive arch, gently he looked to his hand, resting on the hilt of his gun. That was secure, just in case this chick started flipping out or some shit. "I'll go with them, coffee and steak," he nodded once casting a wary glance to his teammates. The ones he got in return made him shake his head and glance up at the woman who /br /"I'll be right back then." The woman walked away and headed back into the kitchen, adjusting her hair in its messy bun and washing her hands free of her skin's oils, she sighed and turned to see a very angry looking man glaring up at her. Her boss 'Walter' was a very small man, roughly five foot, and he was round, skin always had a slight orange tint. He honestly reminded her of a pumpkin, his hair thinning right on top in a way that even slightly resembled a jack o lantern. However he was far from fun, the man had a poison tongue that would put a rattlesnake to shame, and he flew off the handle easier than the MMA fighter that punched that annoying Jersey cunt way back in 2009. Swallowing heavily, she gave him a bored look back, which was always the best way to handle these situations…br /br /"Revenge, I swear to God, if you embarrass me or this diner, I will personally throw you back into the whorehouse you slid out of you fucking..." he gripped his thinning strands of blond hair, and growled. "Listen up," he snarled grabbing at the front of her uniform "If you fuck this shit up, I'll find someone who can do the job right," he pushed her back softly, raging at one of the cooks before retreating back into his office like the little slime he /br /Revenge rolled her eyes and poured out three mugs of coffee, putting each to the individualized orders and grabbing a small cup of cream in case she messed anything up, putting them on a serving platter and carrying them back out to the three men to which they belonged. "Steaks will be out in a minute boys," waiting for their nod of thanks and walking /br /Diving into his coffee, Kobra let out a small sigh of content. "So where do we go from here?" he arched a brow and looked around the table waiting for a reaction, seems everyone had the same question just past their own lips. Sipping their scolding beverages, a silent conversation seemed to be passing between the three patrons. One of raised eyebrows, skeptic glances and the occasional headshake. br /br /Finally, Jet let out an audible swallow and leaned in to whisper, not that the people here didn't seem 'nice' enough, just habit, really. "Well, obviously we're stuck here until Ghoul get better… I guess we'll crash around here and keep running missions outta the inn?" he offered, his heavy brow /br /Poison frowned heavily. "I guess that's all we really can do. Hey, Ko, how much longer you think till he'll be up and walking?" The redhead looked to his younger brother expectantly, his fingers drumming against the table, the usual sign of his impatience, or just plain /br /Kobra let out a small sigh, refilling his coffee and taking a long satisfying drink. "I have no idea," he admitted with a mumble. "It's kinda up to him on whether he'll lay back and rest or fight me at every turn." Another big drink passed his lips. "The more I argue with him about it, the more he's gonna fight." He shook his head with his lids shut weakly. "We just gotta see how this pans out."br /br /Both men frowned, nodding their thanks when the woman came back handing their food over with a fresh round of coffee, even a new pot. She smiled weakly. "Ain't you boys getting no sleep?" She was trying to be polite, but it was just small talk. She soon shot a glare over her shoulder and headed back into the grey swinging doors of the kitchen. The steaks weren't huge but the smell of spices and herbs made the men's mouths water, the brown skin indented with charred bits of brown was a forgotten paradise. They just stared at the food for a moment with their mouths watering before they each dug in, the meat was a bit tough, but tasty nonetheless. Their knives were soon coated in the animal meat and juice. Gulping down each bite, it sure as hell was better than power pup, and hell, if bein stuck here meant they got'ta eat like this at times, well the who the fuck cared?br /br /About fifteen minutes passed before Jet finally leaned back with a content sigh, hand on his stomach and licking at his lips. A small burp came out as he reached for his coffee, downing yet another mug of that God sent liquid. It ran down his throat smoothly, the rich aroma floating up to his nose as he sighed happily, yup, this was the /br /Poison crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes. Meat was good, oh god yes, meat was good. He almost felt like lulling himself to sleep, eye unwillingly opening to hear someone walking up, their waitress handed them a small piece of paper. "Your bill," she said quickly, "You pay up front." And with that she turned away and went back to work. Poison closed his eyes again, suppressing a long yawn. Having another sip of coffee, he glanced to the bill. 25 carbons? He shook his head, those steaks put them over worse than anything, coffee was cheap here, and the coffee was damn /br /Standing, as much as no one seemed to want to, was the next step of their journey. Heading for the front register he paid their bill, glancing back to see his brother and Jet dragging their feet along behind him, stretching was the inevitable trait. They had to stay awake and check out the town as a team. Slipping his shades on Poison headed out into the cruel light of the desert sun. The perfect remedy for overeating. Stretches and small noises filled the air as they headed back to the rock lined walkway, rubble crunching under their heavy boots as Jet let out a content sigh. The sun kinda felt good on their skin, the diner was cool in almost a cruel way... An unnatural way, but they had good /br /Kobra stretched out and yawned, squinting even under his tinted shades. He spotted a garage and took the lead, strolling over. The building itself was beat to shit, but the actual equipment seemed to be in good shape. A longing for his own motorcycle hit him but he tried to shake it off, taking a look around. He saw cars from all ages, some were even from the 2000s, and those were harder to come by. You needed computers to fix them and where there were computers, there was Bli. A shiver ran down his spine as he looked around the open building, no computers…glancing to the cars again he noticed it was interiors being scrapped, that was… a bit better...? A frown tugged his lips, who the fuck cares about their interior?! He sighed and glanced around realizing he wandered into the garage alone, Kobra groaned, he always did that and got yelled at for it!br /br /Ready to head back he felt a hand touch his shoulder and spun around ready to fight, the quick motion and awkward posing made him fall on his ass with a loud 'thud'. The body connected to the hand chuckled. "Nice moves," the man teased, extending his hand to the form on the ground. Kobra took it warily, and stood squinting through his shades to get a look at the man who scared the shit out of him. The man was young, easily in his early twenties; he had bright hazel eyes and mussy dirty blonde hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a half grin that vaguely reminded Kobra of an embarrassed anime character. Shaking the thought off, his eyes darted back to analyzing the man before him. Despite his age, the kid was near as tall as him! Wasn't quite as thin but they held similar builds. They probably could have passed for twins with a change of clothes and some hair dye! /br /"Sorry 'bout that, I have a tendency to walk quietly," gesturing to his boots he chuckled. "You'd think these things would make more noise out here, but oh well, sometimes life just has it's little mysteries, eh?" he relaxed his hands, looking to the man in shades with a half-smile "Name's Greased Whiskers," He extended his hand to the older man easily. The situation soon felt awkward…br /br /Kobra stared at the dark oil coated hand for a moment before Whiskers retracted it wiping his hand on his black patchy jeans, obviously not thinking of what he was doing, before seeing a strange man wander into his building. The hand left dark stains on his jeans, they lingered among the other various blotches in a way that was similar to a pattern, almost intentional. Extending a smudgy, less dirty hand Kobra weakly shook it with a nod. "Just was admiring your setup here, got a good work space." His eyes darted around the dirty grey walls covered with various clippings of newspapers, magazines, sketches, all of various engines and parts. One in particular was tacked up above a dimly lit work desk with a chair pulled out. Must've been where he was sitting when Kobra strolled in. "That Ford-289 V8 looks pretty damn good there, you into Mustangs?" He arched a brow, the obvious answer there but, just gave him time to check out the /br /"Oh hell yeah!" Came the kid's eager reply. "64 and ½ all the way!" his eyes lit up and he clasped his hands together, cars were his thing, simple as that. "Man, my mom had one when she was a kid, parents got it for her sweet sixteen. Only cost 'er 300 bucks! She had to sell it when she married my dad though, it sucked so hard!" he groaned, obviously still upset by her choice. Moving to flop his body down in one of the open cars he laughed "I'd kill for one of 'em now. But then again, I woulda killed for one at any time," he joked. "That machine was a fuckin' beast!" he grinned wide at the older /br /Kobra chuckled at the kid's enthusiasm. This was cute, he shook his head. "Yeah, a li'l before your time, huh?" Kobra inquired with a smirk splitting his face at one side. With a shake of his head he continued "Well I gotta head out, man, sorry to bug ya." He was about to walk out when he stopped and half turned back "Wait, how much you know about bikes?"br /br /"Bikes?" the younger man blinked, "Like what? Motorcycles?" Stroking his chin slightly he headed for the back room, a load of spare parts laid there. Shuffling through them he muttered to himself and frowned softly "I got enough spares to fix one up," he turned back and looked to him "Why, whatcha need to know about 'em? Need one fixed?" Obviously a bit spacey in his thought process, it'd been so long since he'd gotten paid for doin' this... this was like a perfect dream come true, all he could have ever /br /He nodded and stroked his chin. "I got one myself, but uh, I think the engines shot…" he swallowed "It's in the back of my bro's car… Would you mind taking a peek at it?" he crossed his arms, watching the kid's face. He was hoping this could be the fix he needed; Poison and Ghoul usually got theirs from the fights, fan girls and attention. Jet got his from the feelings of accomplishment when he completed a mission perfectly. And Kobra? Well Kobra got his from the freedom of his bike. The privacy and thrill of really having the time to introspect, to lose yourself in the /br /Whiskers lit up. "Y-yeah, of course I could!" he grinned proudly. "Just... Just bring it by whenever and I could could take a peek at it!" He was beaming with excitement. Hands clasped together he chuckled shaking his head "I'll see you later!" he called. noticing Kobra was walking out of the garage. "Yes!" Kobra whispered to himself with a big grin. He would be back on his bike soon enough and he could even run missions on his own again, any little bit helped out right /br /Heading back out into the sun, Kobra adjusted his glasses to find Jet and Poison sitting outside of a medical clinic giving him a stern look. He waved them off slightly as they stood. Crossing his arms, he tilted his hips slightly, waiting for the shitstorm to touch down. Poison looked like he was gonna smack him as the pair met up with Kobra, an eye roll and glower was the main communication right now, sometimes non-verbal contact was all they did. Plus bystanders didn't need to be nosing into their business. br /br /Poison opened his mouth but was cut off by Jet coughing. "We're gonna stop inside, see if they got any herbs and shit to help Ghoul out." Dusting some of the dirt off his dark jacket, he let another cough fly. "Don't wander off again or I'll let Poison blast through this whole damn town," Jet took off inside of the building to hopefully get a little extra boost of help, never could have too many /"I found a garage willing to look at my bike, I was just checkin' shit out," Kobra attempted to explain to his brother as they walked into the building. It was clean, but not freakishly so, there was dirt on the buttercup floors and the walls were an odd seafoam green. Like they were trying to make hospitals "happy". The wallpaper turned to stripes, like a circus design; bring out the big top stripes. Various counters lined the room with off-white tile. Dirty brown lines for grout, various coffee stains lingered there, the shades from light beige to a rich /br /Jet walked up to one of the women hovering over a clipboard that was desperately trying to fall apart in her hands. She blinked and looked up at him with an arched brow. "Can I help you?" She twirled a pencil around one of her yellow locks. She didn't even stand up to Jet-Star's shoulder, but from her glance alone he felt as if he was being looked down on. Her dark eyes were bearing into his own, every breath she took made the deep scar tissue on her neck expand and retract- She'd been given a death blow, and most of all she survived it. A strong woman stood before him, to say the /br /Jet swallowed thickly. "My friend was shot up pretty bad and our medic… Well, he did everything he could, I was wondering if you had any pain meds or anything..?" He arched a dark brow and crossed his strong arms over his chest, watching the woman let out a sigh before moving around to pick up various herbs in small glass jars, handing them over. Her gritty nails were stained with oil and dirt, they were rough and jagged, betraying her as a nail biter. Stress was here in the town, but the signs of it were /br /The woman went back to her charts straight away. "They grow all around this town, you know. Just in back alley ways, along buildings, so on." The woman mumbled as she flipped through a few pages, "We're a free service, so if he gets any worse, feel free to bring him in." With that she turned back to her work, waving Jet off with a flick of her wrist. She didn't even give him a second glance. Her work was too important for small /br /After all that's what she was about, saving lives was more important than a chat with some stranger. That was the kind of thing that distracted her, and she couldn't afford that. "Razor!" Called another nurse and she rushed over, a kid sat there with a scraped knee that was covered in bits of glass and rock. 'Tsking' softly, she knelt down and used tweezers to pull bits of the glass free. Then gently brushing the rock away, Razor cleaned the dirt and wiped the area clean before wrapping it in a /br /"Now be careful out there," she said, smiling and ruffling the boy's hair. His dirt coated face lit up and he nodded, hustling back to his friends. The doors let out a gentle hum as they closed, as the woman sighed and washed her hands free of all the dirt she could /br /Jet watched the woman with soft eyes. Shaking it off, he extended the herbs to Poison, whose hand was still hovering near his blaster. This town was off. It was like the war never even happened. That wasn't normal; it even had a false sense of security. Poison swallowed heavily and gave both men a nod, with that the two headed after him. The sun was blinding up above them, it rays taunting and burning the men. The heat was almost unbearable, the safest action was just to slump back into the inn, and all three dirty sweating /br /As soon as the door shut they were greeted by the aged woman, her shaking hands clutched over the curve of her belly. "You had good time?" she arched one of her brows before turning to pull a few papers from the front desk and extend them to Poison. He couldn't help but let out a soft groan, he'd forgotten about this nonsense, and wasn't really in the mood to dress up in a goddamn maid outfit before getting ass fucked over a barrel by this biddy. She poked him slightly until he took the papers glancing over the list and mumbling, the paper had an off texture to it. A bit more grainy then most loose leaf paper, and it was an odd tan shade. One small whiff explained everything: hemp paper. Of course, the conditions out here were perfect for growing… They must've… So that's why the town was so relaxed!br /br /Holding off a chuckle at the thought, Poison began to read on. Nothing on there was too time consuming or difficult, mainly things like dust the cobwebs, clean the glass, just small things to make the place look better. Shifting through the papers he noticed there were three papers, through the last one had less to do, the work was harder. Smirking softly to himself, he passed them out, giving himself the first and his brother the last. "Alright, we'll finish this up before headin' back upstairs," proceeding to go and start dusting off the /br /A few hours and one very annoyed Kobra later; the men were finally heading back to their room. Upon entrance they found a very content, very loud snoring teammate of theirs, surrounded by plates of various Mexican foods. Stifling a small chuckle, Kobra slumped into the bed opposite the sleeping man. Poison rolled his eyes as he headed for the bathroom, cleaning up the dust that coated his hands. The remaining man went to slip off his jacket and boots, despite the fact that his work wasn't that bad, in this heat he still managed to work up quite a sweat. Slumping onto Ghoul's bed, Jet let out a sigh, taking the half-eaten plates of food made him want to gag. He threw the bundle onto the floor with a sigh before stretching /br /Staring at the ceiling with brows furrowed, he recapped the last few days. It was an odd feeling, going from the terror of losing a teammate back to normal, was the terror still there? Not really, they knew Ghoul would pull through this. Turning to roll onto his right side and face the damaged wall he closed his exhausted eyes. Even being in this kind of environment was exhausting at times. It was all a false sense of security; they could be walking right into a trap… just those thoughts get to you. He shook off the idea as he waited for the leader to /br /Minutes later Poison did just that, stretching with a long yawn. Jet pushed him out of the way to handle his own mighty needs. With another yawn, Poison squinted his eyes, trying to get the blur to fade. He felt dead on his feet at this point, he was so used to never getting sleep that the prospect of sleeping in a real bed was orgasmic. He joined into the same bed as his brother and let out a louder yawn slumping on his side and curling up. Poison passed out almost straight /br /Kobra pushed his brother slightly. "Fatass," he mumbled, as he rolled over on his side trying to get comfortable. He only could stay in this position for a few minutes, part of him nervous, the other excited. He might have a bike again soon! Smiling softly to himself, he didn't even hear Jet slip back into his bed, all he could imagine was being on the road again. The way the chrome looked through the visor of his helmet and the salty scent of sweat that dripped down his body when his protections lipped off and he stood there, truly a man. The thoughts lulled him into vivid dreams, bright nameless colors and ever changing shapes, all played out against the bright white of the Summer's /br /br /Waking up the next morning, dust particles dancing in the air as a small irritating noise overtook the room. Jet let out an unhappy moan at this; he just wanted to get some fucking rest after yesterday. Nonetheless, his dark lids slowly lifted, squinting against the white designs on the opposing wall. Once again that bastard sun deciding to give him a "wake up" fuck in eyes. Another disgruntled noise emerged from his thick chapped lips. His eyes darted to the source of the throaty grunts. "Ghoul, if you're gonna fuck your pillow, at least wait till we go o-" eyes widening in realization at what the man was /br /Ghoul was mid-battle with his wheelchair. He swore softly as the damn thing snapped shut, crushing his hand in the process, he almost howled with pain. Unable to hold himself up, he was hunched against the wall like a crushed croissant on the ground. The aggrieved arch of his spine was as painful to look at as it was to be in. Yanking his reddened hand back he let out a fresh string of swears, shaking the damn thing to try to get the feeling back into his digits. Cracking his swollen knuckles, he focused back on getting the damn chair to open up, completely unaware of the sympathetic gaze in his direction. He was always a strong fighter, and he didn't want the guys thinking that he was giving in because of this shit. He was tougher than that!br /br /His teeth let out a loud crack noise as they clashed together again, brows furrowing in frustration. He'd been working on getting the damn thing to open up for nearly two hours. Doing it was a challenge in itself, let alone having to censor his volume for the sake of his teammates. Once again, he would never let them know how bad this shit was. They may have been his team, but they were still men, and he wasn't gonna be the butt of the goddamned /br /Jet watched the man sadly, he understood how it felt. Well, not so much that he'd been there before, but that empathy. Ghoul had always been the fiercest, the one willing to go out guns-a-blazin'. Being stuck in this room, fuck he must be going stir crazy. No wonder he wanted that goddamned chair to work right. The tall man extended his hand as if to help but withdrew it. He balled his fingers into a fist staring at the rough texture of his thick, yellowing nails. As good as his intentions were he had to let Ghoul suffer through this on his own, there was no other way. Offering help would seem like an insult to Ghoul's pride, and well, when you're Ghoul, pride was /br /The best choice seemed to be laying back, just allowing this to take its toll. Moving silently, Jet managed to get back into a horizontal position. Being sure he was facing away, he just stared intently at the wall, the brothers seemed to be sleeping through it. He just wanted to give Ghoul that chance, the ability to just rest for a moment and have his private struggle, once that was finished he'd forget this entire thing happened. After all, he was just dreaming right? Smirking softly to himself, he closed his eyes again. Yes, just a dream...br /br /Ghoul froze for a moment, keeping his body still while his eyes darted to his side. Out of his peripheral vision, he checked on his three companions. Kobra seemed to be in sloth mode, like he'd been drugged into sleep. Just the thought tugged a frown at the corners of his lips, closing his eyes and giving his head a slight shake he discarded the thought. No way in hell that could happen. Glancing back he noticed Poison sleeping with one leg out and snoring. He always did sound like he was a man when he slept… A man who had a rag stuffed in his mouth, that is. Rolling his eyes, his attention finally settled on Jet. This brought a full on frown to his dry lips. Jet's breathing pattern was off, it was too quick, too shaky. Fuck, he was awake. With an odd movement he released his grip on the chair. /br /"Fuck," he snarled heavily once again, pulling his wrist out of that Devil trap. His eyes narrowed. Devil…? D…? Oh, that mother fucker! Ghoul muttered a long string of obscenities. That asshole gave him a faulty chair on purpose! Probably was hoping that fuckin' thing would snap on him and cut him in half! After all these years of being whacked with that old cane, the old man wanted to finish him off! He couldn't help but laugh at his own little joke. One day that man was gonna put his eye out and he would never let him forget it. A small smirk spread across his face until the throbbing in his hand reminded him of that blasted /br /The metal gave a small wheeze of protest as it was forced to open again. The various bolts and screws had grown old and stiff from lack of use. Finally with enough pressure and fiddling they snapped into an open position. The seat itself was a murky swamp brown. The cracked center was a cream star in the vast sea of cheap padding. It's rough irritated edges looked uncomfortable and inflexible, but when Ghoul's finger applied pressure, he found it to be quite the opposite. Though the plastic-y substance was smooth, with a little give it was still the kind that stuck to your skin and made it feel muggier than you wished. Like the time Poison jacked a few water bottles off some Dracs, not even halfway back to the diner they all had that waxy feeling on their hands. The armrests had the same kind of padding. Thought it wasn't broken it still had indentation. Someone must've put plenty of weight on this baby for a long ass /br /Sighing, Ghoul's attention went to the pedals, dark as the sky over Zone 6, they went tilted inward. Frowning at the wear and tear on those as well, this baby was a fixer upper to say the least. Sadly, he could feel his muscles growing sore and tired. His breathing became more labored; Ghoul moved his body to slump back down. Eyes closed, his pink lips parted slightly, hot breaths came out in short pants. This was hell, it had to be, and he was being punished for something, wasn't he? Fuck, whatever it was, he was sorry already!br /br /His lids grew heavy, bobbing up and down like a hipster at an indie concert. Things came to him in small bursts, like watching a series of film clips on a screen. Ghoul was reminded of smoking pot for some reason, how the world felt like a screen, and he was just laying back and watching it. First it was just the light moving against the wall, different intervals, a montage of life. The noises, he could hear snores growing, fussier, the sign that they would soon be waking. Squeaking of angry mattresses soon followed, the protest and give of unwilling springs. Blackness. Feet on the ground, the small taps of carpet versus the deeper thumps of tile. Water rushing through pipes and their own groans through the drywall, a loud creak when the water was cut. More black. Voices, deep and raspy from their slumber, no words, just the guttural sounds of a half asleep Poison, obviously pissed off at missing his beauty sleep. Kobra's softer voice, a bit more hopeful, but slower, carefully planned out. Ghoul could hardly open his eyes; they weren't willing to submit to him. Jet's own groggy voice joined the mash up of tones; the throbbing in Ghoul's head gave the entire thing a beat. Bang, bang, bang, soft mumbles, bang, bang, bang, raspy irritants, bang, bang, groggy /br /The sickening song was starting to make Ghoul's stomach churn. He felt like screaming but his throat didn't want to work. A sigh seemed to match his need, it was all it took for all the noise to stop, all attention snapping to his form. The whoosh and taps of bodies moving, the warmth of another living being close by, his lids finally managed to part to see Kobra, flashes of white light surrounding him. His lips parted seeing a jar in the man's hand, sweet, mother fucking relief. The acidic taste of herbs filled his mouth, a small chunk of dirt made him hock some out, but he managed to down the rest happily, tears stinging his swollen eyes. The herbs always made him feel a bit woozy but those fuckers really did the trick, within a few minutes you felt like you were floating on cloud nine. br /br /Kobra watched the injured man with worry, eyes darting to the now opened wheelchair he frowned. "I told you not to push it," he all but hissed at the injured man. As laid back as Kobra could be, it did piss him off when someone directly disobeyed what he warned them against. "Now listen to me, you're gonna lay here and get the fuck better, so we can move on, got it?" Kobra's tone took on a strict command that was usually reserved for Poison. He was the medic here, goddammit!br /br /A small groan of agreement came from the bedridden man. Closing his eyes, he let himself relax, back to his symphony of torture. Bang, bang, mother fucking /br /Raking his thick digits through unruly curls Jet sighed, shaking his head. He decided against telling the guys what he saw this morning. Once again, the bitter taste of a man's pride founds its way into his mouth. He tugged a few small rocks out of his dry, spoiled hair. The sun has really been doing a number on him, taking his normally dark hair to a lighter shade, the lighter it was, the more brittle, the more brittle…well, the more shit he had to pull out of it. It was like a freakin' jungle in /br /Scratching at his nose, Poison winced; tugging some of his sun burnt skin off. On average, he didn't burn to bad, but his nose always got to peeling. Tossing the bits of discarded tissue to the side, he flicked his fingers trying to get whatever was stuck under his nails out. Running a hand through his dyed locks, he coughed. "A'ight let's head out, try to get ahold of the old man and see if there's any other runnin' 'round he needs done." Nodding to the two able men, he headed out the /br /Kobra lingered a few minutes longer, checking Ghoul- he seemed to have passed out. That was the best for now, shaking his head with a sigh, Kobra trudged to follow his brother, the least they could do was thank D for forcing Pony out there to drop that shit off. Deep footsteps sounded through the hallow of the staircase, two sets of rapid and one set of slower, planned thumps. The noise drowned out the squeaks that steps normally made. It was less creepy than normal, thank god for /br /Beams of light shone through the less dingy glass of the entrance. After their work yesterday everything looked a bit nicer. The biggest offenders, cobwebs and thick dust, were now gone. Though everything was still faded and covered in a film of dried dirt, it made the place look more put together, at least. A few florescent bulbs flickered with unease as they walked underneath, Kobra had a feeling he knew what awaited him when they returned. Gaze narrowing on a small scuffed stepstool that confirmed his fears, he groaned as he caught up to his brother and Jet grabbing breakfast burritos left on the counter, still steaming from the freshly scrambled eggs inside. He could see the red of the salsa leaking out from his brother's tortilla, and feeling his mouth water, he snatched the third plate. It was wider than his fist and long enough to hang over the edge of the plate. The steam danced up to caress his face in its warmth and spicy scent, and he dove in happily. br /br /Stomachs satisfied and flasks filled, they finally headed out. It was a bit cooler today, high nineties; the biggest relief was the humidity was low. It wasn't that heat that got ya, it was that damn mugginess, it made you feel sticky, and sluggish. Those were the days it was dangerous. Going straight for the CB they used yesterday, Poison placed out his call for Dr. Death Defying. Tapping his hand against the wooden wall he awaited his response, the Air was dead. Poison frowned, trying all of their frequencies, nothing. This was bad, very bad. Grimacing, he looked to Jet and Kobra, upper lip curled up slightly. He knew something was going down, he just knew it! Normally they at least left a transmission running, even if they were moving! This was bad, so fucking bad!/div  
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	3. Sand in the wounds

Swearing softly, Poison led them back out into the heat. They couldn't go running into this situation blindly, that could be exactly what Better Living wanted them to do. Running his hand over his sweat slicked forehead, the leather of his glove stuck to his skin slightly, he tugged it back and shook his head. "Alright, we're going to get some coffee, decide what we're doin' next," he said, sighing heavily. This shit wasn't usually his style, but they were already one man down and had no idea how many they could be up against. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Poison leaned on the door to the diner, pushing it open with his body. Once his men were in they slumped into the nearest open booth in silence, brows furrowed, all deep in their own thoughts.

Were D and Pony alright? Were they even alive? Kobra swallowed, they could always head out and check on them, see if the Transmitter was actin' up again. But if they were ambushed, one could imagine that Korse and his goons were waiting for them to show up and get their heads blasted in. The thin man closed his eyes and stroked his chin gently. But if the men were okay, then they could help get everything fixed up and back on track, or help them if they were captured… but with Ghoul hurt, the odds were not in their favor.

The waitress from before greeted them where they sat, "Coffee, I take it?' She arched a brow, her cheap looking press on nails drumming against her order book. The men in front of her looked like hell, pretty beaten emotionally, the red head nodded weakly and she headed to get them their fix, there was nothing a decent cup of coffee couldn't fix.

Poison slumped back down tugging at his locks before pulling himself together, he was the leader, he had to think of something. Without him the entire thing would fall apart. Smoothing back his greasy mane, he sighed. "Alright, we have two options here, we stay here and wait for a response… Or we go in, and pull those fuckers out," his voice was deep, eyes sweeping along the two other men, darting back and forth seriously.

Jet was the first to speak. "We can't," he replied coldly, "It'd be a suicide mission, if D and Pony are…" his voice broke off "It's no use to anyone if we're all dead…simple as that." As harsh as it sounded to say it, it was obvious, if D and Pony died for this cause, they died. It was the risk everyone took with this lifestyle, they were grown men…

A different opinion popped up with Kobra. "They would do their best to come and help us," he added and gave Jet a bit of a look. "If they are hurt I need to get to them right away, they need treatment. We have to do it, and need to go n-"

"Kobra, we'd be outnumbered! It could just as easily be a trap," Jet snapped back harshly with a glare. "Ghoul's already hurt, if we die out there we'd be abandoning him too! Leaving him here with no one, and he could just as easily be turned in!' The older man hissed under his breath, glancing back up as their waitress came with three mugs of steaming drinks on her tray. Each tapped against the table as they were placed in front of each man, the three nodding in thanks as she walked away.

"They could just as badly need medical attention, and I sure as hell am not gonna wait around and risk letting them croak if they do!" He hissed back, grabbing his mug and sipping the drink, giving Jet a long hard stare. "What's the point of this charade?" he shot toward Poison. "There should be no question in your mind! We need to go out there this instant!" he said, slamming the cup down. Some of his coffee splashed onto the table.

Poison stared at him with a small frown. "We can't," he finally spoke, firm and sure. The look of shock on Kobra's face was enough to make him take a breath in. "I swore D a long time ago that if anything like this happened that I wouldn't head back for him, it's the same with us. Shoe on the other foot? They would wait, and if there was a report on us goin' through the waves they'd know… If not he'd assume we'd gone AWOL…" closing his eyes Poison shook his head weakly "We gotta keep this going, even if it means we're on our own," he grabbed his cup heading to take a sip when Kobra grabbed onto the cup.

"How the fuck can you say that?" Kobra glared at his brother, tears forming in his eyes. "How… How can you..." he swallowed thickly and closed his eyes, as much as he understood it, he refused to believe it. His eyes opened again, looking up. The hazel orbs were shining, holding back tears. Closing them, Kobra managed to fight them off and gripped his coffee mug. The heat clinging to the glass burned slightly but it was better than breaking down.

Poison swallowed and shook his head, sipping his drink in silence; a heavy moment came over them all, a moment of mourning. The mindless chit-chat of the wave heads behind them was white noise. Not really words, just babble and bullshit. The door opened yet again, most likely another hollow person coming in, no one even looked up till the familiar whir of a beaten up motorized wheelchair came in, paused and was soon followed by the sounds of 'click clack' on tile, soft whispers in an argument no one needed to know about.

Poison's head was up like a shot, his eyes fixed on the two newest patrons, it seemed everyone was staring. The slender man in polka dotted tights was trying to push an older man's wheelchair. The older man was glaring up at him and smacking his hands, his own calloused hands and thick knuckles coated in dirt and sweat.

'An- I told ya for the millionth time I don't need yer help!" he growled to the younger man, dark eyes fixed on Pony's fiercely. The younger man gave him a stern look back, jutting his hip out and crossing his arms, fingers tapping against his dry elbows as he sighed rolling his eyes at the man. The looks soon fell onto him and he flushed slightly.

"Come on, you old goat," he mumbled, ignoring D's heated protests he gripped the handlebars and rolled the chair over to the three men sitting still as stone with shock on their faces. Pony rolled his eyes and scratched at his head, some sand falling loose as he sat next to Poison pushing him over with his hip. "Hey big butt," he flashed one of his big smiles and looked around, "So, is there like a reset button or something?" he arched a brow waiting for a reply.

"I-I... yeah," Poison coughed out "The fuck are you guys doing here?" The leader was clearly shocked at their sudden appearance. "Why the fuck didn't you leave something on the station, o-"

"Our goddamn signal went down," D hissed back, his fingers impatiently tapping against the seat of his wheelchair, dirty, gritting nails causing gold specks of dirty to fly onto the padding. He grumbled and motioned the waitress over. "Gimme a cup of joe, Crash Queen." The violet haired woman nodded, quickly returning with two more mugs for the newcomers. Dr. Death Defying took a long swig of the drink as Pony sniffed it appreciatively before taking a much smaller sip and set the cream colored cup down with a gentle clack. D ran his hands through his long greasy hair before he sighed, continuing. "Been working on that fuckin' thing all morning, the goddamned cock sure just won't do it." He grumbled a few more swears under his breath and shook his head.

"We did our best to find you guys," Pony added softly, rubbing his dirty knuckles. "It just took a while because someone decided not to listen to me," He rolled his eyes and a small smirk stretched on his pink lips, snickering at the sheer thought of D's eyes from under those shades. He knew he was getting a look, but who the fuck cared, he couldn't do anything about it!

D grumbled a bit more, words slurred together although the swearing was obvious in his gravely cracked voice. "So you came here," Poison added with a small sigh. He slid down into the booth, closing his eyes and shaking his head, a flurry of red danced back and forth in the gleam of the light. "Well, we should probably take you in to see Ghoul, he's…he isn't in the greatest state," Poison quietly admitted and closed his eyes yet again.

Pony frowned softly at this. "Well did you get his chair set up? Maybe getting out would help 'im some?" He offered, but his face fell further as he saw the matching grimaces on Kobra and Jet's faces.

"That isn't the best plan right now," Jet replied smoothly. "He can hardly hold himself up, let alon-" The tall man cut himself off, shaking dark curls and starting over. "We aren't gonna push him right now, his ego is already imploding on itself… he just…just…" A groan came from his throat and Jet tugged at the knotted waves in his hair.

The blond shook his head in agreement. "He's losing it," Kobra added simply with a sigh before sipping down his bitter drink, wincing slightly he moved to add sugar… another sip, it was just the bitter taste of failure in his mouth, clenching a fist he stared into the dark abyss that was left in the cup, his face an unreadable mask.

D's heavy brows furrowed. "That bad eh?" He grumbled, adjusting hismelf in the old ratty thing he called a chair. "I'll talk to the young'in, see if I can get him to snap the fuck outta it," he rasped out, leaning against the back of the chair. Dr. D took another large drink finishing the rest of his mug and arched a brow at Pony till he refilled it, coughing a few times before he spoke again. "I know how it can feel," he patted his bum leg and looked up to the four men looking his way. "It's hell on earth sometimes."

"Well it's upstairs and we don't got all day," Kobra managed out and looked up, a smirk now playing on his lips as his brow arched. "Are we gonna sit here talking about this shit, or we gonna do something?" The group turned to him fighting shock, it was creepy when he changed moods like that, and nonetheless everyone began shuffling out of the old booth, Poison throwing a few carbons on the table for their waitress before heading out of the doors. Briskly walking to the other side of the sandy road, Kobra laced his fingers through his stained blonde hair, resting them on the back of his head. He half smirked as they kept their pace, he wasn't gonna sit around and fuckin' mope over the woulda coulda shoulda's. He would fucking change this shit or die trying.

Jet jogged ahead once they were inside, it would be easier to bring Ghoul down than it would be to force D upstairs. Marching up the creaky stairs in a matter of seconds he burst into the room to find Ghoul laying on his side weakly staring at the wall, the dark circles under his eyes amplifying the mood he was in. "Hey man, come on!" Jet called as he folded up the chair and swung it over one of his muscular shoulders. "D and Pony came out here and the old man wants to see ya!"

Before Ghoul could protest he was swept up in the older man's arms and headed for the door. Letting out a soft noise of protest as he was jerked slightly, Ghoul eventually just gave in and sighed, leaning back against the other man. He shook a bit; form rocked to and fro as they headed down the stairs, the rickety handrail putting him on edge, a sigh of relief passed his lips when they were finally on the ground. Nodding a hello to the two new men as he was set on the couch, Jet started setting his chair up.

Exerting a grunt of force onto the old material Jet grinned a bit to himself when the metal finally locked into place with a loud 'click'. Taking the smaller man into his arms, he placed him in the seat, a grin still on his lips.

"Well, well, well," Dr. D began shaking his head slightly. "The fuck did you get yourself into this time, Ghoulie?" He arched a brow and pulled the cane from the bag slung over the back of his chair. He gave the boy a quick tap on the head and laughed as Ghoul scrambled to rub the spot, lips pouted slightly as he looked over at D. "Oh get over it, it's not like I haven't done it before, and I sure as hell am doin' it again!" D laughed, a booming sound that echoed through the room.

"Hey, I'm injured and-!" WHAP. Another blow to his forehead, Ghoul's face twisted as he grabbed the offending cane about to come down on his forehead for another blow. "Stop that!" He hissed and jerked it back into D's chest.

The room fell silent, striking D even in an indirect way always meant you were getting your ass kicked. No one in the room so much as took a breath for the longest time, Pony slowly prepared to brace D, waiting for the explosion sure to happen… A soft noise came form D's throat, sure to be a growl, it soon became throatier and more broken… suppressed chuckles...? The bearded man soon burst out in another round of booming laughter. "That's the pipsqueak I know!" He managed out through his loud round of guffaws and broke for a few moments, harsh coughs coming along. "Now see you ain't got nothing wrong with ya, I know it's pretty fucking shitty to feel useless but if you 'an stop me, hell you shouldn't have no problem kickin' some mother fucking ass... " He smirked slightly his plan laid out.

"Or maybe you're just getting old!" Ghoul snapped back earning him another couple bonks on his head gripping his dark locks he groaned. "This has to be some form of assault," He whined with a moan.

Jet rolled his eyes at Ghoul. "Well, at the very least its good to have you back," he grinned and ruffled the man's hair chuckling as Ghoul blew a few wayward strands from his vision arms weakly crossed and giving Jet a slight glare.

"What is this, pick-on-Ghoul-day?!" Throwing his hands up in an exaggerated statement of angst proved to be a bad idea, within seconds he was gasping in pain and clutching his side, doubled over and wincing in pain. Four sets of arms rushed forward ready to catch him, he managed to pull a hand away to weakly wave them off, still wincing, as beads of sweat began to form, the taste of bitterness was on his tongue, forcing his jaw to move he ground the herbs up and swallowed looking to Kobra in a weak gesture of thanks.

Kobra nodded, the bit of hope now extinguished from that one wrong move. But that's all life was anymore, that double edged sword… No. Kobra opened his eyes with a determined look, he said he wouldn't let himself fall apart because of this, and he sure as hell wouldn't. "Come on man, let's get you some coffee and shit," He spoke, voice firm. He took the chair from Jet and rolled the injured man to the diner across the way.

The remaining men watched blinking for a moment before Poison shrugged jogging after his brother, Jet on the other hand stayed behind, frowning. "So why else are you here?" Despite the distractions you didn't have to be an idiot to know this wasn't a social visit. The look the two men exchanged proved his thoughts and he frowned heavily, deep lines lining his large lips.

Pony sighed and pulled a few scraps of wrinkled coffee stained papers from his tank top. If Jet didn't know better he could have sworn Pony's hand was shaking a little bit, snatching the crumpled wads he did his best to smooth them out eye scanning along the faded lines and various damages. Jet's eyes widened and he managed to swallow weakly, dark orbs darted up to meet D and Pony's soft sad ones. "Where did you get this?" He managed out in a shaking whisper.

Pony shook his head solemnly. "It was out in the papers," he began, closing his eyes. "Tommy got ahold of an Intel van… they were under the seats when he was stripping for parts…" Pony's face hardened as he met Jet's shocked gaze head on. "They're only copies," he began again, "So the original files have to be..."

"At Better Living headquarters," Jet finished and swore softly gritting his teeth and clenching the paper up in his grip, wadding it up, but he removed it, careful not to tear it. "I gotta tell the guys," He hissed a few more curses passing his lips, a gentle touch was placed on his shoulder. Surprisingly it wasn't Show Pony, but Dr. D, the sympathy on his face was almost painful.

"I know you liked 'er, kid," he started and sighed shaking his head, "But you all can't afford the distraction right now, both you and I know it..." he shook his head again carefully withdrawing his hand and closing his lids. "'Specially Kobra, he can't handle this shit," D added sadly and gave Jet a 'you-know-I'm-right' look.

Jet frowned and nodded, looking back to the crumpled paper, staring at it for a few moments before heading to the empty fireplace across the room. Kneeling, he threw the paper inside and produced a lighter from his jacket pocket. With a quick flick of his thumb and the click of the lighter he touched the bright flame to the paper, it caught right up into flames, the last thing he saw of the print was the black and white photo of a pretty girl and the name 'Molly' written across it, a proclamation of another member of the killjoy scum alliance that had been taken down, glaring at the papers as it curled into deep black then broke apart to ash, no one had to know... And no one had to suffer.

He turned around to the men who both nodded sadly, Jet's fist was still clenched, he didn't have the strength to follow his teammates right now, instead he opted to sink into the couch and pull out the bright colored charm, that he had recovered on their last run, he stared at the neon printing on it for a moment and swallowed clutching his hand back into a fist and lowering his head in mourning.

Across the way Kobra had finally managed to get Ghoul set up at a table, he was fussing and fighting all the way, Poison slumped to Ghoul's right, it was odd being back so quick but hell, coffee was fucking coffee and it was good at any time. Leaning back, the red-head looked to Ghoul and grinned weakly as the faint tap of heels hitting tile approached.

"You boys back so soon?" Revenge stood there, fresh coat of hot-pink lip stick smack in the middle of her face, she jutted out a hip and arched a brow. Her blue eyes darted from each man and set on Ghoul for a moment, he sneered up at her slightly and she rolled her eyes in response. "Three coffees?" She offered, and headed back at Poison's nod.

Ghoul glared as her form retreated into the kitchen. "Man, who knew there were so many hookers in this town," he joked with a filthy grin. "Hell maybe we can round up a few an-" the look Kobra gave him caused his mouth to snap shut, he shot him a glare back and frowned. "What?"

Kobra just studied him for a moment until his glare began to fade and shook his head. "Dude, just chill, we don't need you startin' fights with anyone out here and gettin' someone to call them. We can't afford to move you right now," His voice and eyes became stern. "So, simply put, don't piss off the locals," he finished, jabbing a finger in Ghoul's direction when he stuck his tongue out in defiance.

Poison rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. "Good to have you back, Ghoul," he mumbled and gently patted the man's back. "It's nice to see Kobra gettin' butt hurt over you and not Jet," a few laughs hung in the air as the coffee was served. He took another mug graciously and began sipping it, helping Ghoul get his prepared exactly how he liked it.

Ghoul sunk back slightly and managed to bring the steaming cup up to his dried out lips. He smiled as the warmth and sweet taste flooded his mouth and let out a happy noise of comfort, coffee was good. Oh god how good coffee was. He parted with the ceramics and sighed happily. "Oh coffee, how I missed you," bringing the cup up to his cheek and twisting his form back and forth weakly he beamed, "I'll never leave you again, never ever."

Kobra rolled his eyes and chuckled, not that he was much better, but he just wasn't so… upfront about his reunion. "Well we can see you and the cup need some privacy, should we leave the room?" He snickered and looked to his brother, brows arched in jest. Poison simply smirked back refusing to part from his drink, he only pulled back for a moment to wait on a refill for his drink. Once Poison got his wishes he laughed softly.

"So, where to next?" Ghoul's face lit up like a kid's on Christmas, but the look soon fell as he saw the look the two men exchanged, "I mean, I can move now… We… We're leaving, right?" His brows furrowed as he took a long sip of his coffee. That's what they said, right? As soon as he could get out they… they would go back?

Kobra frowned heavily, the crease between his brows a dark brown eruption in a sea of tan and red. "Ghoul…we can't risk moving you yet, we haven't been attacked so far here and… It's a few hours back home, the risk of us getting attacked with you in that chair," he broke off, shaking his head, taking a long drawn out sip of his coffee and sighing. "It wouldn't be worth it man, I'd rather wait around here and be sure than go running out when we don't even know the situation… we're stayin'." he added firmly giving his brother a 'this-is-a-doctors-order' look.

Ghoul's face fell and he stared into the muddy liquid in his now shaking mug, "You… You're joking, right?" he whispered softly, the waves of his drink crashing from wall to wall of his cup. "We… We're… We have to go home!" He finally snapped, drawing the full attention of the diner, the clattering of silverware and small talk ceasing as all eyes fixed on the three.

Poison frowned heavily at this and sunk a bit lower in the booth, glaring the man directly into his eyes. "You're not fighting this, Ghoul," Poison hissed at the younger man. "Stop acting like a fucking toddler throwing a fit in public, some things just don't go your way and right now I agree with him, I'm not gonna risk all of our necks because you won't sit the fuck still for a week!" He set his drink down with a loud clack as he straightened back up. "And that's a fucking order!"

The glances and mumbles in their direction seemed to stop, the patrons going back to their own conversations and business. Kobra let out a small sigh of relief, shaking his head he pinched the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. He wasn't really in the mood for this shit. "Well then, it's settled," he finally mumbled out and sighed, refilling his coffee with the last bit in the oversized pot. "Mother fucker," he swore as the last unwilling drops splashed into his mug, letting out a groan of annoyance he flagged down their waitress. "Can we get more?"

The woman shrugged and headed into the back, grabbing a freshly brewed pot and walking back out at her own slow, bored pace. Reaching the table again, she refilled their drinks to the brim and placed the container down for them. "Drink up," she sighed and left them, wiping her hands on her dirtied apron.

Ghoul was frowning again until she left, but he drank his mug up greedily nonetheless. Sighing, he shook his head, "So what's there to do in this hick town anyway? Any fights? Drug ring? Maybe the big bad bosses have a summer cabin?" he was just throwing ideas out there for the sake of easing his own boredom, he would go mad if he was stuck there much longer, short attention spans, gotta love  
em.

"Sure, then candy will fall from the goddamn sky, and it'll rain for forty days and forty nights, swimming all the radiation away and bringing forth a new era of peace and green much." Poison muttered sarcastically with an eye roll for extra effect. "This isn't no fairytale, princess-boy. And it sure as hell doesn't have a happy ending," he all but spat at the younger man, every single word laced with as much venom as a rattlesnake's bite.

Kobra blinked and frowned heavily. "Jesus, man, fucking cool it, I didn't know it was bring your diva for drink day," he muttered and downed the rest of his drink, smacking his lips a bit, he frowned, his brows meeting. "Is this decaf? It tastes off." The bridge of his nose crinkled and his upper lip rose in disgust. He hated decaf. HATED.

Another eye roll came from the man in the wheelchair. And he complained about Poison being a diva, must run in the family, Ghoul snickered slightly at the thought of infants being born with feather boas and cigarettes snapping their fingers and demanding caffeine laced beverages. Smirking slightly, he grinned at the men. "I pity your mother," he teased slightly, ignoring the questioning looks he received. No, this was his own personal joke.

Kobra shook it off and kept drinking until the container was once again emptied, it may not have gotten him hyped up but hell they paid for it and it was better than cactus juice. That shit was nasty, especially the time that Ghoul thought it would be a good idea to cut a leaf open, mix coffee grounds with the water and let it sit in the sun until it heated up- they were sick for weeks and Jet even got a bit high off it. 'It's the quenchiest!' He would never forget that line, Jet was running around in circles and screaming it, must've ripped it off that old cartoon about the kid who controlled elements, man that shit was cool. What he'd give to control them. Like a superhero. Stroking the fine hair forming along his jaw line he pictured it. 'Super Kobra!' No… no, that's not it, maybe 'Kobra of the Night!' … Nah, too DC…WAIT! 'The Snake Charmer!' Yeah, that would be the shit! Mindlessly he hummed a little jingle to himself, patting a beat out on the table, not even noticing his brother trying to get his attention until- WHAP! He jumped and looked up at Poison.

A look that was about a fifty-fifty mix of confusion and worry was on the red-head's face. Kobra had all the sudden started swaying back and forth and hummed the tune to the batman theme song… for fifteen minutes straight. He was actually concerned he was like… going freakishly catatonic! "We're going back to the inn, come on," he hissed. Man, he did not want to know what was going on inside that man's head…

Ghoul snickered at the pain inflicted on Kobra, frowning and flinching slightly as the same smack was placed on his gloriously greasy, sweaty head. Muttering obscenities under his breath, he leaned back and crossed his arms, while Kobra pushed him out the door. As soon as the hot wind hit him in the face, the sunglasses went down and the bandanna up. It was one of those quick sandstorms they got. Hot air, grains of sand and rock hitting your open mouth sucked, getting them stuck up your nose, now that was a problem!

"It's gonna be a day," Kobra mumbled, tugging his jacket up and pulling his own cover from his pocket, sighing. He hated these storms, they always made his allergies flare up, making him miserable. His eyes would get red and swollen, and his nose would be running one moment then stopped up the next, usually he just wanted to curl up and stay on base on days like that. Though he rarely got the chance, instead he got by on grossing the other guys out with snot rockets… Unless it turned into a competition… It usually did. In the end he would get Ghoul's snot on his shoe or hands and it would turn into a wrestling match… They were fairly evenly divided on wins with those.

Sniffing the runny liquid that was forming, Kobra pushed the man across the way as fast as he could, praying the old woman wasn't burning incense. Unfortunately for him it was all over, groaning internally he looked at the papers set out for him and sighed turning to Ghoul. "I'll get Jet to carry you up," he swore at the work on his list. Fix the pipes? Unclog the drain? Carry all the boxes down from the attic, great… more dust… more allergies… and more snot.

Jet heard the stomping up the stairs, face falling; of course it had to be Kobra. He sucked it up and just headed downstairs, swooping Ghoul up much to his discomfort, one armed. The wheel chair locked in his other muscled limb. Setting the man down on the bed he pushed a plate of Mexican food toward Ghoul and folded up the chair, he'd already finished his work while they were gone, and wished Pony and D good luck on their way back.

Slumping down on his half of the bed, he sighed, staring at the textured ceiling. It was one of those that looked like it was made of popcorn, he always hated those as a kid, always worried it would fall apart and drown him in those little rough beads and he'd never get out. Seemed silly now but… Isn't that what they all feared, never spoken, never even hinted at. But losing their beings, drowning in pills, or loss? Jet shook his head, he was being ridiculous.

A few hours later, a very dust covered Kobra entered the room, sneezing and rubbing at the red rims of his swollen eyes. Poison followed, trying not to snicker every time Kobra would sneeze and jump back a bit, bits of snot and spittle flying everywhere. "Cover your mouth," The leader teased, heading for the bathroom, another hot shower, another good day.

Kobra glared as the man passed him, and headed for the empty bed. He tugged his bandanna out, coughing into it. "Fucking dust," he managed out between his disgruntled noises. "I hate that shit," he coughed out again, wiping his nose free of the dripping. "D and Pony leave?' he asked, looking to Jet with slightly arched brows.

Jet simply nodded, staring intently at the wall. "She's probably going to make us redo these old ceilings. I haven't seen any like this since I was a kid," He mumbled weakly, and started pointing out places where it was beginning to rot through, some small beams of light from the attic peeking through, various cracks ran the length of the room, he hadn't really had a chance to lay back and notice them before. They were almost like a design though, every inch of debris was a sign, a medal almost. This place survived the wars, the fights, it was sill standing, it had the same feel as the old woman.

Jet frowned and sat up with a jolt, heading out of the room without another word. He stomped down the stairs quickly, his legs almost a blur. Between the loud bangs and creeks it was like playing a horror movie soundtrack on fast forward. Finally approaching the woman's door, he rapped his knuckled on the cracked old maple.

Shuffles and soft steps were the only response for a minute, but sure enough the door creaked open slowly, the old hinges protesting the movement with a high pitched screech. Mrs. Palafox looked at the large man, her amber eyes staring softly, the grey mane she called hair was partially braided, some of the beads she had laced into it slipping out and hitting the floor with small cracks. She slowly and painfully knelt to get the offended, but Jet beat her to the punch, looking at the small wooden decorations with a frown on his lips.

"What's your story?" he finally whispered, and looked to her. "Why didn't you turn us in? You know who we are. Coulda collected that bounty and paid someone to rebuild this place for you..." he wasn't stupid, just confused at this point. She stood there for a moment like a deer caught in the headlights, but frowned, the deep wrinkles in her face exaggerated until her face relaxed, back to it's aged wisdom.

"Come, I tell," She whispered and motioned him to the furniture in the main room, shooing him into sitting down in the large pleather armchair as she took a seat on the loveseat. She stared at her gnarled fingers for a moment deep in thought, unsure where to begin, finally she sighed and took in a deep breath. "I had daughter," she started in her heavily accented broken English. "She very beautiful, sought by many man, she had…" breaking, she mouthed the words to herself silently and sighed, "Six children. All as beautiful as her. When fires start, she die," The aged woman's relaxed mask broke into one of pain and mourning, tears glittering in her dark eyes at the memory. "I took kids, when... When better living come along... Tell me they want to help." Her voice broke again as a few of the crystal tears fell down the ridges of her defined cheekbones. "They take, they kill… all of them," Wiping her face with her hands, she not only rid herself of the tears but the pain as well.

Horror. That was the only way to describe the look on Jet's face. Lips slightly parted and dark eyes bugging out in shock, it took him a few moments to look away, cough and revert his face to normal. He knew BL/ind was cold, but to kids… and, he shook his head, it all made sense now. She kept them around… didn't rat them out because she had some false hope of revenge… or justice, whatever it was, they couldn't promise it to her.

"I keep you safe," She whispered softly, back to her even tone. The gravel in her voice still there, but it was if it were to show that her entire calm mask would break again and the hurt woman would shine through, totally fall apart in front of his eyes. "You keep me safe," she added at the end with a firm nod, starting to get to her feet.

"They hurt you too didn't they?" Jet finally looked back to her. "Your hands... they usually look that way then the bones are broken and not set…" He wasn't a doctor, but he'd lived a while on this earth before it ended. The woman weakly sat back down, the material of the loveseat making an odd squeal from the pressure and movement. "They hurt you and the kids in front of you…?" it was only a guess, but…

Swallowing heavily, the woman shook her head. "No… I tell them no take," she started weakly and closed her eyes, the pained woman shining through again. "They take something else from me," she whispered as she looked to the large knuckles in her hands. "They drive over," she finally mumbled after a few more moments of silence, Jet's face twisting in agony at the thought.

Worst of all, Jet could see the scene playing out in his mind. The sun beating down on everyone as two men in vampire masks held a woman down. The kids placed in her care trembling between a circle of men in identical garb. How they would tie her hands out, kick her in the side roughly until her squirming stopped, the names they would call her, the threats given if she tried to run, what they would do to those kids... If there was a fate worse than death, it would have to be the experimentation cells in the basement of Better Living. He could almost hear her terrified screams, the crack of her bones as those tons were forced over her aged bones. Her cries of pain when they rolled off and the feeling returned to her misshapen hands. Did the kids try to run? Scream? Cry? Even help? Was that why they were killed? His mouth was too dry to ask, even if it wasn't he had a feeling his voice wouldn't give into what he wanted.

Staring at the woman with a different view he just sat there for a moment, unsure if his brain was even connected to his body any longer, if he had the ability to move his legs, to run far away and not look back. But even at the thought he could feel his legs go limp, there would be no running from this problem, and that would never fix it, she was afraid for herself too… Having three body guards staying with her. Of course…

Nodding softly, the woman silently rose, her old bones making soft pops as her joints moved. She left the room and returned minutes later with a dark rust colored drink. "Sip," she demanded, putting the small cup into Jet's hands. They shook slightly as the cup was placed into them. He did as she said slowly lifting his arms and drinking, it tasted like… Raspberries and… sherbet..? No, that wasn't it. But it was close… he kept sipping until the drink was half gone, even that took him a few minutes, his mind spinning, stomach reeling from her gory tale.

By the time he had finished the cup his mind was detached, floating almost. He stared at the wall, sighing softly for a few moments before looking back to the drained cup. A few dark leaves were stuck to the white ceramics. Running his finger around them, he popped it into his mouth, sucking the residue off and sighing. He'd begun to let his cares flow out the window since he finished that concoction, it was only now he looked up and noticed Mrs. Palafox was back in her room, door shut. Frowning, he blinked and looked at the clock, it'd been three hours! He sat up quickly, the shock giving his legs strength. As he looked around, sure enough the sun had gone down and the temperature had cooled.

But, he only sat there for a minute! Five max! Sniffing the cup he had his answer. Groaning, he smacked his hand over his eyes, he could smell the pot from here, he should have known! The dark leaves floating in the cup, the strong sweet flavor as an overlay! She drugged him! Sighing, he glanced at her door again, that pain she must've been living through… She just didn't want him to feel it too; shaking his head sadly he placed the cup down with a tap and headed back upstairs into the darkness of the upper level.

Everyone else was already loudly snoring, he could make out Ghoul mumbling in his sleep to himself, shaking his head and discarding his jacket he moved to slump onto his side of the bed and fidget until he was in a comfortable place on his side, closing his eyes he headed into a world of nightmares, screaming children, blood and death.

It felt like his eyes had only just shut when the sun was already blaring down in Jet's unwilling face. Letting out a groan of displeasure, the man rolled over with a small noise, burying his face into the pillow and sighing softly, last night's images still flashing through his mind, yet another secret he would probably keep to himself, it made his stomach churn. Slowly he rose from his bed and stretched out, Poison was leaning against the wall tugging a boot on and the shower would be heard echoing in the room.

Closing his lids yet again, Jet sighed and froze. "Oh, shit, before I forget," he walked over to Poison tugging a slip of paper from his jacket, resting on the nightstand. "We got a mission today, Zone 5 from the looks of it, three raids, not sure if on our side or neutrals but I was told the corpses are piling up." He handed the paper over to Poison who took it with a small frown, brows furrowed and eyes scanning the slip for the coordinates.

"Then let's pack up, we gotta move," The leader barked at his team pausing for a moment and jabbing a finger at Ghoul. He stared at the red-headed man like a lost puppy. "No," was all he firmly stated, "stay here and rest up, you'll need your strength for the next time we go out." Smirking softly he chuckled and tugged on his bright blue jacket, the leather exhaling a sigh of sweat and dust smell, he really needed to get that thing cleaned one day.

The three able bodied men headed downstairs and out of the inn, glasses on and a purposeful stride in their walk the descended on the Trans. Poison couldn't help but smirk softly, it would be nice to get outta here for a while, slipping into the driver's seat he felt at home, the engine roaring to life loudly, he sighed happily, revving it again just for the sweet sound of that baby's engine. Stroking the steering wheel his grin grew wide as she slammed onto the gas, the car lurching to life and spurring them down out of the town, back onto those roads he called home.

Sighing softly, Kobra looked out at the horizon, sniffing slightly, his allergies were still throwing a fit from the day before, wiping at his nose with his jacket's sleeve he leaned back and looked to the mountains in the distance. Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Kobra sniffed again. "Hey man, have you heard any incoming calls for m-…us?" he arched a brow waiting for his brothers habitual snap at what he was hinting at.

"If you mean if the Bli-Bitch has called, no, she hasn't," The leader tensed just at the thought, good mood long gone and tone harsh. He hated that fucking bitch, shoulda dusted her when they found out what she was, but nope Kobra had to 'help' her. Like fucking always, just wanna move on with whatever they need, look out for themselves… their team, and Kobra has to help anyone who so much as looked their way. "Maybe she finally showed her true colors and went back to working for them, then everything you told her is in the hands of Kor-"

"SHUT UP! She would never do that! Not to us! Not to me!" Kobra snapped back, his innocent question turned into an all-out war, he couldn't even imagine… She would never betray them… Even hinting at that made bile rise in his throat and anger tear through his heart, his veins were burning and his heart rate increased. "Don't fucking say that," he panted out and looked over, eyes furious.

Poison shot his younger brother a heavy glare. "Well Jesus fucking Christ, she leaves the group, goes missing, stops calling you all together, doesn't even give Pony and D the time of day… We both know she'd rather live, if she was cornered she would throw you under the bus like that," he snapped his fingers for a cruel emphasis. "She would do it to all of us. Hell, I still say she was a fucking mole, they sent her out here to get to you an-"

The man's rant was quickly cut off by a swift jab to the cheek. The Trans swerved off the road into the soft sand, tires sinking in as Poison countered with a rough uppercut to the man's jaw line, a sickening smack when his fist connected with his brother's flesh. That asshole hit him! Over telling him what they all know about that fucking bitch! She was a traitor once, and she always would be. People like that would never change, he knew it, hell they all did! Even fucking Kobra…

The seat belts were soon flying off in the air, the two men lunging at each other fairly poorly in the confines of the car. Their jerking and twisting only landed maybe five punches before Jet leaned forward grabbing both their shoulders and slamming them back into their own doors. He didn't say anything just gave them a long fierce stare, those idiots should know better than this by now, you'd think they were still five and fighting over a fucking toy one had!

Kobra panted for a moment and gave Jet a look back before slowly nodding, still trying to find his breath he turned back to Poison. "I know you don't like her," he hissed out between his gasps, "But she would save you if it came down to that, she would protect you like she's done many times before," pausing to catch his breath he continued. "And the fact of the matter is… something's wrong, Poison. I have no idea where she is and she wouldn't just pull this on us, and yeah I mean us. She cared about the entire group…"

Poison shot him a heavy glare back and turned to the wheel forgoing the seatbelt and taking off silently simmering as they headed for an unnamed route. He was gripping the wheel so tightly his knuckles looked bleached, hands shaking and he couldn't think straight, he knew he was right. He always was when it came to shit like this, Kobra was just blinded by his emotions, couldn't see what was going on right in front of his fucking lovey dovey face. That girl was using him, hell she was probably using five other guys, making them think she cared, getting to know everything about them and then throwin' em to Bli when she was done with their stupid asses.

Glaring over to the blond again a frown tugged at his chapped lips. Tongue snaking out to sooth the cracked flesh his hands readjusted their tight grip on the steering. He wouldn't let that happen to Kobra and until that bitch turned up… he wouldn't let this shit get to him. No matter what, she was dead, if she came back to them he was shooting her, no questions asked, he'd been considering this for a long time and it just had to happen. The was no room for love out here, and those foolish enough to fall into it might as well head on back to Battery and give themselves up for torture and death. That would be kinder.

Finally the car slowed, swerving slightly as they drove off the road back onto hard sand. Poison always preferred the sand to the road, he liked the dust cloud that formed behind him when he sped off, as long as he didn't get caught into the soft sand, one time he took Kobra's bike out for a spin and didn't see the patch up ahead, the front wheel got caught in it and he went flying over the handlebars face first. Sand was coming from his nose for weeks and none of the guys would let him forget that one. No, soft sand fucking sucked.

The site of the raid was harder to find this time, they must have spent a good three hours aimlessly driving through the heat, windows down listening to the waves for any hint of where the fuck they were going. No abandoned campsite, no unattended cars, and no corpses. Just the eerie silence of uninhabited desert. Normally when this would happen Poison would suspect a trap… but they'd been driving in circles this whole time, no trip wire, no alarm, no white car rushing at them for all it was worth. It was just them and whatever indentations their tires left in the sand as their tracks.

The sun was beginning its descent down behind the mountains and their morale seemed to follow, the tension from earlier mixed with an inconclusive mission turned them sour and bitter. Poison had been hoping to vent his frustrations out on some dumbass Dracs, Kobra hoped there would have been someone to help, someone to save and explain what was going on out here. There was nothing, why were they so set on raiding?! Jet…well Jet just wanted those two to get over their petty little bitchfest and move on, acting like they adults they were supposed to be. Even the role-models that they were made out to be, right now they sure as hell weren't even close.

Heading back for their base was only logical; Poison turned the Trans around causing a dark cloud to form behind them, almost chasing them away from here. Nighttime in the desert was always creepier, the chills set in, no light, it made a man see things, things he didn't want to. Usually within himself, why does introspection always occur in the creepiest places?

The drive was well undisturbed, Kobra kept himself hunched over his blaster ready to pull it at a moment's notice the entire time. It was just too odd. They were sent to a recent hit…this should have been a huge hot spot, crawling with Dracs. Cameras should have been all over em and they should have been hunted down like usual. He shook off the thoughts as his eyes scanned the horizon, no lights, no movement, swallowing thickly he closed his eyes for a moment and sighed.

Poison's eyes narrowed as they came upon the faint lights of the town, no drop ins… nothing. Something about this situation made him feel sick to his stomach, it was like if you jump into piranha infested water and you're not getting your ass chewed to hamburger meat, it means there's a shark around. Gripping the wheel tightly again he slammed on the gas pedal the engine roaring in protest as they flew forward, effectively slamming Kobra against the dashboard.

"Man, what the fuck?!" Kobra snapped as he jerked his head back to face him, eyes furious. "I get it, you're fucking pissed off at me, but Jesus fucking Christ at least say it instead of slamming me against the-" His voice dropped off seeing Poison's expression.

He wasn't angry, glaring or about to say something thoughtless that he would regret later. There was no raised fist or gun, nor was he about to slam on the breaks to chew him out. Poison almost looked sick with worry. That's right ladies and gents, the Party Poison, leader of the fabulous Killjoys, was worried. His eyes were narrowed and his skin almost glowed in the night it was so pale. Sweat was forming and streaking down his face and neck, his knuckles bright white. But the thing that tipped off anyone who knew him well enough… was his mouth. His lips were pressed tightly together bits of blood peeking through the thin chapped flesh he was pushing them so hard.

This made Kobra's stomach churn so loudly it was actually making squish noises. Something was wrong and something was about to blow up in their faces, The car swerved back into it's spot in front of the inn, Poison said nothing retrieving the key from his ignition and darting inside, Kobra followed, oh god, what if this was all a trap?! They were lured away and left Ghoul completed unable to protect himself! He could have been taken! He could have been killed! If anything happened, Kobra knew it would be his fault and even if nothing happened it would STILL be his fault for what COULD have happened. He was the one that insisted Ghoul stay…oh god. He gagged softly as he ran up the stairs and down the hall to the door sitting slightly ajar.

Seeing his brothers back the man fought off rising tears as she curved past his body to see…Ghoul sitting up against this headboard magazine in hand and plates of food all around him, bundled up in what looked to be freshly washed sheets and his feet soaking in steaming water. "Hey guys," Ghoul sighed with a dreamy look on his face. "That Mrs. Palafox sure knows how to heat a footbath," he grinned and slumped back, resting his wet feet on top of the blankets. "Ahh, yeah," he sighed again.

Jet came rushing in, the same thoughts purging his mind, seeing the man he frowned and tugged at his hair. "I don't wanna sleep on wet blankets because of you!" He groaned out and moved to flop on the bed; his muscles had grown stiff from the drive and being stuck still. Clean blankets made him sigh softly; they felt like the perfect caresses for his tired form.

Poison rolled his eyes and chuckled as he began to strip down, heading for the other made bed. It looked nice, you know maybe the old bat wasn't so bad after all, they got the occasional meal, clean sheets, and they hadn't been sold out yet. This was a nice break form scourging by in the desert. He sighed as he lay out on his back and stared blankly up. How long would this last though, when would he have a chance to go to his real life? He shrugged off the question, it was unimportant; the fact was they were stuck here until Ghoul healed up. Every day he seemed to do a bit better but, how much of this was an act. He knew Ghoul was just as antsy to get outta here as he was. If Poison was in the same place he would probably fake as much as he could to get the hell out, not be the one to drag the rest of the team down and deal with the disappointment, the failure.


	4. Lifelines and Secrets

Whiskers shot up, squinting at the glare of the sun hitting him directly in his still tired eyes, jumping violently and flailing out of bed, succeeding in tugging the blankets off of him and his companion. Fabric fell over his slightly pained form and he groaned, a few sharp swears passing his lips, hand groping for the nightstand and his glasses. With a bit of a wobble, he grabbed them, shaking his head. Managing to get them on after successfully poking himself in the eye twice, getting to his feet. He turned and nudged the woman to his side.

"Nnnunf… fuck off!" Revenge mumbled into her pillow curling up in a ball and tugging it close to her chest. With a quick swing her legs encircled it as well. She let out a contented noise until he jabbed her again, and she snarled, weakly sitting up. "What?"

Whiskers glared at the woman, lips pressed to a perfect line. His index and middle fingers pushed the glasses to the bridge of his nose, eyes narrowing. "Revenge, how many times to I have to tell you when you come in late to go into your own bed?" He said voice low and slightly dangerous. He moved to change out of pajamas and into normal greasy clothing. Shaking his head, he reentered, eyes fixed.

Revenge sat up stretching, her hair falling down in sweaty ringlets. Pursing her lips she thought back to the previous night's actions. "I dunno but you sure as hell talk a fuckin' lot?" She replied smoothly heading into the two canvas bags thrown carelessly in the corner and digging for a roll of unwrapped bandages, jeans and an apron before slipping into his bathroom.

"Goddammit, do you ever wear clothes?" Whiskers swore, shaking his head before looking away. When he planned on renting a room it meant the couch in the living room, not his own! Pinching the bride of his nose slightly he finally headed to the small kitchen, tearing through it to grab some coffee. This was a sweet break from the usual dirt and grease smells he was accustomed to.

Revenge came out a few minutes later, water dripping down, rubbing her sore shoulders gently with a bag slung over her arm, she sank into the couch setting up mirrors, tubes of half used lipstick and faded palettes of eye shadow.

"God fucking dammit! Revenge, what the fuck?! How many times do I have to go over this! Stop showering every day! You're gonna get my ass kicked and...!" Groaning and tugging his hair, his own locks were so oily it made the grease stains on his hands come to life, blinking for a moment turned into a furious look.

However, Revenge focused on her mirror carefully applying lipstick, doing her best to avoid her lip ring. Pushing her lips together she didn't bother looking up "Well I don't know what I should do then Maybe go live on the streets? Find a guy who will beat me and stay with him?" Sighing, she looked over with a pathetic expression.

Whiskers snarled heavily at her. "I am so sick of this whiny selfish act! If you're gonna live here you need to learn some respect for once! I know you need a place to stay but don't you dare try to guilt me out of this!" Groaning he went through the cupboards.

"I think you're just being a dick!" Revenge called back, smiling at the reflection of herself taking time to smooth out the gentle waves of her hair. Puckering her lips at herself, to give them a fuller look. God, she was sexy.

That was it! Whiskers stomped across the room to Revenge, his normally calm demeanor long gone. "So what is your paycheck gonna go to, more make up?!" Snapping at her and crossing his arms heavily. He'd let too much slide for too long.

Revenge blinked up at him smirking "Oh, come on... It takes a lot to look this good!" She flipped her hair and pouted her lips slightly, letting out a scoff. "Whatever, man, you just don't get it," she dismissed him with a flick of the wrist, not seeing the expression of pure rage on the man's face. First a yellow-tinted pale, changing to a deep furious red, he was shaking, in a furious state, like a cartoon character blowing smoke from its ears.

"OUT!" Whisker shouted at the top of his lungs jabbing his index finger in the direction of the door, "Out! Out Out! I can't take your shit anymore! Take your makeup! Take your fucking clothes! Your judgments and your goddamn high heels and get the fuck out!" He stomped with each new word.

Snarling she stood, gritting her teeth. "Fine then! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" She tossed her makeup back into a canvas bag, grabbing the others and flinging them onto a couch. She tugged on her boots one at a time. "Mother fucker," she muttered ungratefully, she slid one on. "Can't believe this!" She hissed with the second and stood, flipping her hair as she passed the man and swaying her hips. She would show him! He was fucking wrong!

Breathing heavily Whiskers watched her depart, standing there for a moment longer. Silence. There was no whining or bitching, no one throwing a fit, no blow dryers or constant jabber, no impatient 'click-click' of over-sized cheap plastic heels on the tile of the kitchen, telling him to get off his ass and buy something, it was a paradise. Enjoying this moment, he finally shut the door heading for the couch and laid himself down listening to nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears, wow, he stood up for himself, and more importantly he was done with that snobby bitch Cellophane Revenge...

The snobby bitch herself walked with a huff down to her first job, a waitress at the local diner. Her yellowing teeth were grit into a nasty snarl as she trudged into the building, ignoring everyone she passed and flinging her bags into a corner of the break room. She huffed a few more times and bit her hand letting out a small scream into her flesh, this always ended up happening because she had to go and open her big mouth!

Running her fingers through damp hair, she shook her head furiously. Why couldn't she just learn to shut up sometimes?! It would end up saving her a ton of shit! Giving her bag a firm kick, she sighed, balling up. She panted for a moment, letting the rage fade into regret. She, she could go back on break... yeah, stop by his shop with some take out and apologize and say she didn't mean it, that was perfect!

Swallowing and looking to the cracked mirror hung crookedly from sewer-grey walls, she fixed her hair taking in a few deep breaths. "You can do this," she mumbled to herself and looked around. Hearing no one she sighed in relief… Of course a little extra help couldn't hurt…

The small baggie she tugged out of her jeans seemed harmless enough, inside the bits of brown and white chunks shifting. Smiling a bit to herself and inhaling the chemical scent. It was a bit like sniffing the air under a sink, slightly damp and grungy, but there was a small thrill making all of her hair stand on end, shivers racing down her spine deep to her tailbone. Almost panting now, Revenge felt her entire body shaking with need. Licking at her dry lips, she reached into her bag. Not enough time for a full session, but more than enough for a quick hit. She stuffed the powdery substance into the metal ring of a glass pipe, making sure it was deep down and fully prepped.

A flick of a lighter, inhale, exhale, strange smoke too thick to be from a cigarette flowed around her head. It had a stronger smell than the powder. Mouth watering for more, another flick, another cycle, time itself slowed down, her pupils dilated. All the dull dirty colors of the break room had become vivid, dancing a sick tango. One hit turned to two, and two to six… body shaking in a different way as she turned to the mirror, her pupils were the size of pins, the whites bloodshot. She blinked a few times and closed her eyes, trying to wash them free of irritation.

This process usually took about fifteen minutes, the deep red slowly recessing. Revenge would have killed for eye drops, something that was once stored in her purse every day, now hard to find. Those losers out in the desert could use them. Dressed to the nines in vomit inducing colors and patterns. Not that they seemed to care about aesthetic value. Everything was practical with those fuckers. Shaking her head she winced and hid the pipe back in her bags.

After wiping her hands on the off-white apron, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling at her slightly dazed reflection and waving at it, the fight was already long forgotten. Her tongue ran over her chapped lips as she nodded at her reflection, before heading out into the diner. Opening was always a pain in the ass but it gave her time to focus on things, or, well, forget them. Wiping each table clean of dirt that found its way over the counters and tables was usually the best way to start. Quick circular motions on each table a few times, and bam. You were done before you knew it! Wiping the floor was another matter, if you just slopped water around it made a bigger mess and the boss threw a bitchfit. Don't apply enough and bits of caked in dirt and mud stuck making it 'unsanitary'. Splashing some dirty water that was blended with some cheap ass cleaner sure didn't help!

The remaining work was simple, folding napkins around utensils, wiping off trays, plates, and menus. Trying to make it look like everything wasn't shot to shit. Why didn't they just get proper supplies?! Revenge frowned pursing her lips slightly, she hated this dump, and the worst part was she could never save up enough to get out. To go home, back to the streets she loved, San Francisco. Oh well, at least it was something to aim for, sighing she headed to flip the closed sign open.

Within an hour the diner had a handful of patrons, needing their coffee. The usual customers were there, Mrs. Lee with her bright smile, one of her front teeth was chipped off to a jagged edge, and sometimes she'd cut her lower lip and cry out. That woman had a mouth on her worse than a drunken sailor with Tourette's. Revenge shook her head and poured the woman her coffee, getting that famous toothy grin in return.

Some of the teenagers were about, dressed in their bright clothes and bandannas and smoking in a back corner of the diner. One group in particular was the loudest and called themselves the "death threats." Moving to the rear of the diner Revenge silently filled their cups, hearing them brag about knocking down a ton of 'dracs.' What the fuck was that even? She simply chuckled and went back to making her usual rounds, light chat and decent tips.

Shaking these thoughts, Revenge blinked when four men entered the diner. They showed up a few days ago, more idiots in bright colors. The slight squeak of a wheel chair filling the room louder than the various conversations and clacking mugs tapping the table. Chewing her lip she turned to her rounds, those guys could wait, they were pretty quiet. Didn't kick up a fuss like some of the other freaks.

Kobra stretched out, the door clicking shut behind him. Today was a bit cooler than the last few days. It was a nice break from anything over a hundred degrees, oh hell, even the high nineties. He intended to enjoy this god-sent day to the fullest, nothing would fuck his mood up today. The hostess led them to a booth, the cushion protested when Jet and Poison slid down. Sitting onto his own seat Kobra leaned back crossing his arms, the fight with his brother long forgotten. "Holy fuck, today's gorgeous," he sighed, ignoring Ghoul's groan, who was still pissed about being left behind.

Poison arched a brow at his younger brother. "Peppy much?" He muttered, glancing down at the table. "You can tone it down bro, I don't need two suns burning my face off," Poison muttered bitterly, tapping the menu down and leaning on his hand, fingers tapping at the table impatiently.

Ghoul let out a small cough, trying to grab attention. Giving in he gripped his wheels and started to roll away. "I gotta piss," The wheels on his chair made small taps on the uneven tiles. Gritting his teeth, Ghoul tried to ignore the noise, it was putting him at the end of his rope. This fucking chair, this fucking day, and this fucking town.

Kobra arched a brow at Ghoul's departure. His head snapped up at the sound of footsteps.  
"Can I get you guys anything?" the same voice they'd heard for the last few days spoke in a whisper. There was something off about the waitress today… she seemed different, dazed.

"Uh yeah, I'll take a cup of coffee and…" he extended the word glancing over the handwritten menu, eyes scanning for something cheap that looked good. "Just some toast..?" looking back to her as she laughed and closed her eyes, hand covering her cheaply colored lips.

"Pfft, what?" She managed out between the small laughs, blank eyes going from man to man. They were all staring at her! What was with this? It wasn't like she was a giant walking taco! The thought made her laugh.

"Coffee and toast..?" Kobra repeated, obviously something was up with this chick.

Finally her laugh slowed and she took his order. Next was Jet, who just stared for a moment, trying to decide if this chick was on pills. Maybe they should just take off... "Same thing," he muttered, focusing on her movements, anything too erratic and he would be the first one to spring up...

Her eyes set on Poison last as she wobbled and suppressed a giggle. The man stared shaking his head weakly. "Same here," He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose slightly. "We got someone else who isn't here, just get him the same thing," he sighed through frustration. The girl was clearly high off her ass, plain as the sun in the desert sky.

Revenge bit her lip and scribbled the rest of their order, turning, and stumbling slightly. Poison shook his head once she left. "Fucking druggies all over here," sighing and rolling his eyes, anyone still using street was an idiot, not only were they expensive, but even nastier than before. Shuddering slightly he looked to Jet, brows meeting. "So we got a mission today?"

Looking to Poison, he gave a quick nod. "We're heading back out to check that hotspot, something's out there, I just know it, it's what D and Pony want anyway." He looked up feeling the others' eyes on him.

"It's a waste of time," Kobra hissed back at him, eyes narrowing. "There's nothing out there, we've already confirmed that, I say we head out to the diner and make sure our supplies haven't been ransacked." Nodding, he crossed his arms for emphasis.

"Well what if that's what they want us to do?" He proposed with a smirk "What if whatever they're really hiding out, there's something big going on back there- BAM! Evil plan foiled, you'd be like a superhero," Jet's smirk grew wider as he watched Kobra go pale.

Color returned quickly, a furious haze on his cheeks and nose, feeling the anger and embarrassment surge. Chewing on his lip, ready to blurt a snappy comeback he was broken by the squeaking of Ghoul's wheelchair. He clenched his hand into a fist, digging his dirt caked cuticles into the flesh of his hand. It was best not to debate this right now…

Scowling at his chair Ghoul looked to the men around the table and frowned. Kobra looked like he was ready to punch a hole through the wall, Jet with a victorious smirk, and Poison, was rolling his eyes and looked like he wanted to smack both of them with his belt. "What did I miss?" He asked cautiously, like any amount of sound would set this powder keg off, and wick led right up to his goddamn ass.

Feeling the blood rush to the crescent shaped marks, Kobra sighed relaxing his digits. "It's nothing, man," He muttered looking down at his palm. Thick dark liquid was pushing up against the thin slices. It smarted a bit but was nice releasing that pent up frustration. Holding his jacket to his palm he hissed, this would be a pain in the ass. His eyes shot up, attention shifting to Ghoul.

Something was up… no one would look him directly in the eye. Someone was in an argument, judging by Jet and Kobra, it had to be them. "You know guys, just because I got shot doesn't mean I'm made of damn glass," Ghoul hissed out. "I'm not gonna fucking break down if you tell me what the hell is goin' on," with each word Ghoul found himself getting more agitated. Sick of being treated like some fucking... He could handle their petty disputes before, but this act wasn't going to fly anymore. He was a man! And deserved to be treated as such!

Kobra waved him off and Jet just slumped back basking in what was a win. "Don't you worry about it," Jet chuckled, crossing his arms to lace his fingers behind his messy mop of hair.

Ready to argue, Ghoul glanced up as the waitress came back, four mugs set on the table. The coffee jug followed soon after, topped off by clinks of plates. The toast looked stale, but it smelled good. Grabbing his cup, Ghoul inhaled for a moment and began drinking it black.

Nodding in thanks, Poison stared at his food taking a weary bite. Edible was always good, and it got points for not being canned. The chunk was soon followed by coffee, eating loudly, he looked over the piece of bread again, mold grew out here easy, nothing green or fuzzy was growin' on this.

Eating was silent and tense. Ghoul watched, finishing his own meal. He hated missing this shit... When everyone was done, Poison tossed a few carbons on the table and headed out. Ghoul lagging behind. They needed some fun, and Ghoul had just the plan to make sure they'd get that. Wheeling up to the guys he flashed his good old, 'I'm up to something' grin and chuckled. "So... got any plans tonight?"

"Well I figure the old woman's gonna work Kobra to the bone… not that, it should be too hard!" Poison smirked at his younger brother, pushing his bangs back with a small chuckle. "I need to redo my hair one of these days too, why?" He arched a brow at Ghoul. He could only wonder what trouble would they be dragged into this time.

Batting innocent eyes at Poison playfully, Ghoul slowed his manic movements to a more relaxed pace. "Well I heard of this place not too far from here, a busy ass bar, and its sounds like a fucking good ass time! They even got booze," He beamed at the man's face, awaiting his initial reaction.

Poison furrowed his brows in thought for a moment and stroked his chin as if it was a long drawn out debate. Bars meant fangirls, fangirls led to sex, sex led to awkward mornings and having to share coffee. But, sex... finally he withdrew his hand from his slightly scruffy chin and pointed it at Ghoul. "Alright, but they better have more than that moonshine swill," he said, and broke out into a grin.

Breaking out into a wild matching grin, Ghoul let out a slight cheer. "Aww fuck yeah!" He chuckled, still feeling a bit stir crazy from being locked up in his room. Being out in public was a major relief. Going out, a godsend and this bar in particular…Well, being stuck in a wheel chair, he could play up the pity factor and get a nice lay. Then again it wasn't too hard to get a stripper to do what you wanted.

Laughing at Ghoul's excitement Poison followed. Heading back to the Inn didn't take long, before they knew any better, the fab four had spent hours in the room, just laying back and relaxing. A rare moment in their lives, but welcome nonetheless. Glancing out of the window darkness rose. Ghoul headed down the creaking stairs. His wheels bumped and crashed down in a quick motion that made Jet and Kobra reach for him. No one needed his brains scrambled worse.

"Pussies!" Ghoul exclaimed in a taunting tone as the hands trying to each for him fell short and he made his way down the stairwell laughing all the way. His beaming slightly yellowing teeth greeted them, the perfect image of innocence and childishness before he rolled into what little starlight lit the sand awaiting them. The temperature was down a bit, not too low, it was actually quite pleasant. Aside from the twisted shadows filling alleyways, mutated by the moon's glow. Their boots sunk into the sand, Kobra glanced down, rolling his ankle like a kid warming up for gym, making a small crescent into the softened rock. It was peaceful like this, the faint sound of incest's wings flapping in the air.

Poison joined up with the Trans a bit, Jet lifted Ghoul on his shoulder and made sure he wouldn't flop over. His work rewarded by a resentful look from Ghoul. Once the car was filled with men relaxing back in the leather seats, the engine sprang to life and headed out of the sleepy town at Ghoul's direction. It was only over in Zone 5, pushing it a bit too close to uncharted territory, but the promise of booze rang through any insecurity.

Most of the buildings they passed were warehouses, probably once factories that made metal objects. They were large and hollow looking, many of their dark windows cracked open and covered in enough dirt to give it a light greasy sheen. The spots that stood out were the half shattered, a pitch black porthole to the inner workings. The doors were rusted thick metal with the kind of handles that you had to tug on the bar, but it took quite a bit of strength to make them slowly budge open.

All of these buildings were dark, seeing the one with a light on Poison slowly pulled his car up to it. A handful of small vehicles parked along the building. They ranged from what looked to be the 1960s to more recent models hot off Better Living's approval, coated in muck and bits of dried paint. Some of it peeled along the doors looking tackier than anything, but it was still better than walking. Slipping from their seats, or carried, in Ghoul's case, they casually headed for the heavy door, it was hung slightly ajar so a red light could peek through, dim enough not to draw too much attention. A glance passed between Jet and Poison. Jet opened the door; he was tense, ready for a fight. However his mouth fell open at the sight inside. The heavy door creaked open uneasily and unwillingly. The faint sound of old techno music echoed throughout the building. Once-bright lights flashed weakly in the room of the empty warehouse. Jet looked around with unease, shooting Ghoul a questioning look. What the hell? I thought he said this place was amazing... He frowned deeply as they headed inside to look around. Aside from the muffled noises and a single flashing light, the warehouse was empty. Poison sighed weakly, his hand resting on his gun. This couldn't be for real.

"Come on, guys. Open your eyes!" Ghoul snapped, throwing his arms up in a mock act of drama. "Clearly it's hidden! If I found out about it, I'm sure a bunch'a other people did, too." He looked and felt around the wall, trying to find anything abnormal. He knocked and tapped at the metal siding of the warehouse until a metallic 'thunk thunk thunk' resounded in the room. A small rectangular hole slid open at the top of the door, then slid shut almost instantly. Holy fuck! The hidden door swung open, revealing man around Jet's height standing guard. He grunted and permitted the four shocked men entry.

A smug smirk tugged at Ghoul's chapped lips as they made their way into the stairwell. A lot of the walls were a dingy grey. The air was almost pure sweat and BO. A weak neon glow hummed down the hallway to greet them. Once inside, they squinted past the fog machines and cigarette smoke. It seemed like a stereotypical club. Minus the booze, anyway. Girls dancing on cages, poles and stages. Guys getting lap dances were scattered all around the room. _Hell, all we need is some purple wearin' pimp to top this place off_. Ghoul chuckled to himself, his smirk grew seeing men spank at the girls. _Ohh yeah, this is my kinda place._

The next morning, Ghoul woke up beaming. "Did you see those titties?" He chirped with a laugh and winked at the guys. Kobra gave him a disgusted look, after about five minutes, it came out who they were. They each had girls to spare. And Kobra, well, Kobra made a run like no one's business. He said he didn't like that kind of lifestyle and chose not to partake in it. _Fucking pussy, who the hell could say no to free poon tang...?_

/

Kobra shook his head in disapproval. _Disgusting sluts, how the hell could they even enjoy that?!_ The memories of those girls were creeping on his mind and he closed his eyes tightly trying to shut them out. _I'm sorry if I don't wanna get something worse than radiation poisonin'._ He felt disgusted to even be in the same room as the other three. With a small indignant noise, he headed to the shower in hopes of scrubbing off anything he might have caught in the few seconds he was there.

Poison was the last to wake up, he felt like someone had taken a jack hammer to his head. His migraine had started last night after the loud music. Then with the screaming girls, and having to yell over the music, well it just wasn't a good mix. He stood groggily, hearing a knock at the door. _Who in the hell could that be? He swung the door open, groaning as he did._

The little old woman frowned up at him, her brow creased as she handed him a list of what she needed done. _Oh, fuck, I forgot about her._ Poison grimaced and nodded in thanks as he looked over the list, noting that it looked like more manual labor. _Great, Tthis is just what I need._ He sighed heavily as he tore the list into sections and passed part out to each man, knowing today was going to be a long day.

Their daily chores came and went, and before they knew it, their stomachs were growling. Heading back to the diner, they all slumped down in what was quickly becoming their usual booth. Ghoul smirked all the while, all he had to do was wipe a few counters and put rags on his wheels to help dust the floors off. Lucky bastard. Kobra frowned at him, he was stuck dusting the lighting fixtures and ended up falling on his ass twice. His eyes were set on Ghoul making the salt and pepper shakers dance. _At least HE'S having fun._ Kobra pouted slightly, when their waitress came around.

Ordering their usual, Poison sighed. "I need a fuckin' smoke," he said, as he scooted down the booth toward the back exit of the diner. He lit up a smoke and inhaled deeply, looking to the horizon. He wasn't sure if this town was right for them. They would just end up putting everyone in danger. We need to move on. He leaned against the old brick wall, hardly registering the protesting creak of the door as it opened.

He didn't look straight at the woman coming out, but he frowned, noticing it was their waitress. She stood with a cigarette clamped between her teeth as she shakily looked for a lighter. Her eyes darted to his with a sigh. "Got a light?" She asked, arching a thin brow at him, as he nodded and moved to toss it to her. A few moments later it flew back, landing buried in the sand between his feet.

He arched a brown at her and chuckled lightly; he had no idea what it came from. "Nice throw?" he offered her, as he slowly bent to pick it up.

Her face twisted slightly and he could almost hear her eyes rolling in her head. "Sorry I ain't no basketball player," she muttered, crossing her arms and looking away.

"Do you mean baseball?" He offered with a smirk that oozed sarcasm. _What the fuck is with her?_

"I-I… I..." She stammered like this for a bit, carefully thinking over her response. "S-shut up!" She pouted at him with a glare. Her gaze held for a moment until they both burst out laughing. Something about the awkwardness of the moment was too funny to pass by. Their laughter continued for a few moments before falling into a slightly awkward silence.

Revenge shifted against the wall slightly and swallowed, coughing from the smoke. "O-oh fuck" she managed out between the noises. Poison didn't even look over.

His eyes were fixed on the town line. How the sun hit it and seemed to make the shadows grow. He finished his smoke before crushing it under his boot with a sigh. He started to go back inside but stopped, instead lighting up a second smoke.

"So you're a waitress?" He asked in an attempt at small talk and arched a brow; it had been so long since he'd had a conversation with someone outside of his team. _Well, this is all good and weird._

She looked to him with a curt nod. "Y-yeah" She muttered softly and played with her smoke. She sighed. "You part of a traveling circus or some shit?"

He blinked and chuckled. "You're funny," he nodded, inhaling more smoke, "Don't find many with a sense of humor out here." He shook his head.

Revenge blinked in confusion and crushed her cigarette. "You're weird," she mumbled before going inside to wash her hands and get back to work, leaving the strange man to his own devices. _The hell does he mean, a sense of humor?_

Poison shook his head and decided to hang behind a bit longer, fully enjoying his concentrated cancer until he was practically sucking filter. Back inside, he slumped down on his seat, seeing the food was already laid out for them. They ate and drank it all into extinction.

Coughing slightly, Kobra was the first to rise; it had been too long since they'd been on a run. Nodding to his brother he headed to run and pull up the Trans, Ghoul was stuck sitting in the back and not allowed to get out in the case of a fight, which put him in a sour mood, but at least he was allowed to come along. The drive seemed smooth enough until they came upon a white car in the distance. Gritting his teeth, Poison swerved up to it, his gun drawn. The vampire clad men jumped up and looked at the fast approaching car, they had been scavenging some loot off of a few dead bodies. They drew their guns in an instant and began their onslaught of the approaching Trans. The air sizzled with both sides firing wildly. One of the Trans' passenger windows was shattered from a shot. Jet hissed in pain as the glass dug into his exposed collarbone. Ghoul, however, was the one to retaliate, his shots pegging the fucker between the eyes.

Once sure every one of 'those fuckers' was dead, Poison and Kobra rushed to the site with a frown. A couple of girls who looked hardly seventeen were lying there. Shot dead in their sleep, their fire was still smoldering. Poison clenched his fist and hissed between his teeth. With a roar of rage he kicked one of the Drac corpses in the head as hard as he could. A sickening crack echoed when his foot connected to what had once been the Drac's skull. The corpse's neck was bent at a sickening angle, but Poison didn't stop there. He was in a full fit of rage, tears streaming his cheeks as he fired at the enemy corpses, scorching their white uniforms while blood soaked through their clothes.

Kobra frowned and grabbed his brother's shoulder trying to keep him from going. "We don't need to over kill them," he whispered. _He's got to calm down, if he causes any more of a scene we'll be easier to track…_ "Come on Poison there's nothing we can do.."

"Nothing we can do?!" Poison roared in rage and turned to his brother. How the fuck- "Why the hell are we still trying then Kobra? WHY?! If there's nothing we can do, why the hell are we out here fighting?!" He demanded, giving Kobra a sharp punch.

Kobra frowned and grabbed his brother's fists, shaking his head. They couldn't fix this mess, not this time. Ghoul called them over and he forced his brother back to the car, guiding him with a hand on his back. "Come on man," he whispered, "we need to get out of here..."

Ghoul was waiting for them, Jet's wound already wrapped. "It didn't get him too bad, but I think we should head back to the diner." He frowned deeply at the brothers. They didn't have much of a choice, they stayed still for too long and it was making them soft.

After a moment Poison nodded and got in. That little town seemed like a dream world. A home that they once had, but that wasn't the place for them. Getting into the car, he drove them back, pulling up to the old inn. He said nothing as he headed up the stairs and grabbed what few possessions they left in the room.

Sighing for a moment in their room, he stood and shook his head. Ghoul was right, they needed out of here and they needed it fast. Jogging down the old creaking stairs, he found himself giving them one last glance. They hadn't even been here a full week. But something about it, it just seemed so right.

Once outside Poison threw their things in the back of the car. A heavy frown weighed on his lips and furrowed his brow. He got in without a word and sped out of the town, his hands gripping the old wheel tightly. Unknown to him, however, they had been spotted. A Draculoid unit doing patrols, once a few calls were made a raid was brought to play. The white car sped into town…

/

The drive back to the diner was exhausting, not only for Poison, but the other occupants as well. They didn't realize how far Zone four could feel sometimes. The hot air was blasting them in their faces. Lack of water made it hell, too. They really hadn't planned this shit out. However, when they saw the outline of the building on the horizon, Kobra's lips pulled into a smile. Home sweet home, he thought to himself as they pulled up. There was something comforting about their base.

Once inside, Ghoul just flung himself back into his chair, as if he'd thrown himself into a booth, his normal reaction to a mission far too long. He laughed quietly as the chair went flying back and knocked him into a table, almost knocking him out of his seat. A hiss of pain passed his lips but was soon followed by a toothy grin. It was good to be back.

Jet hobbled over to the first booth he saw and slumped into it, closing his eyes weakly. They had been gone long enough for a fine coat of dust to cover almost everything. The particles danced through the air as he sunk into the padding. He was still sore, and definitely stiff, but the familiar musty smell and cheap décor brought a smile to his wide lips.

Poison stormed into his room, this was the same reaction he had whenever a mission went bad. His room was the farthest from the front, once an office. He had dragged an old mattress in, there was a desk and four different maps of the zones, along with a draft he was putting together of Battery City. Various attack plans sat scribbled along the dusty maps.

Kobra sighed; he knew it was his turn again. He carefully moved past the other rooms to knock on his brother's door. "Poison, come on," he sighed heavily. "This isn't the time to lock yourself away."

The door crept open and inch and Poison glared out, "You're right, Call D and tell him we're back at base," he snarled, slamming the door again, this time in Kobra's face. This clearly wasn't up for discussion.

Kobra threw his arms up and headed for the CB to do just that. He put a call out on Dr. Death Defying's line. Sometimes he hated being the fuckin' secretary of the group. He was a doctor for fuck's sake!

The messages came and went. D was going to be sending Pony their way soon enough, they'd have their missions and get back on with their lives. Jet limped to raid what they had in the kitchen, some near-fossilized beef jerky, year old peanut butter, and four cans of pup. He grabbed the jerky and pup, planning to devour both. It was bland, but it was food. _I hope it's at least edible._

Poison came out soon enough, four maps rolled under his arm. He began to lay them out on the tables, sighing. Doing his work out here, for once. "So, I'm thinking we need a food run." He began, "Kobra and I will have to be the ones to go because… well," He cleared his throat, "Kobra, we can take Guano down to the edge of Zone three, there should be a Drac station there. I'm guessing we can snag some water, and hopefully some actual food. If it's too busy, we'll need to hack some machines."

Kobra looked up and nodded at his brother. The blonde man had busied himself with cleaning the dust along the tables and booths. He hated it when it got this filthy. He had to run around in the dust all day, and he didn't need it when he got home.

Rolling his eyes at his brother's need to be a clean freak, Poison started up again. "So once you're done being a house wife, we can make the run." Ignoring his brother's various protests and foul language, the redhead turned to Ghoul. "Do you think you can handle the watch? Or do you need Pony to wait with you?" he arched a brow.

Ghoul frowned up at him and made a face, "I don't need a thong wearing lady boy to protect me!" he protested and stuck his tongue out. "I am a man! Thank you very much."

Poison shook his head, a smile playing his lips. "Sometimes I wonder..." He teased until Ghoul tugged one of his boots off and chucked it at Poison's head. "Oh my god, the smell!' Poison bellowed, for once letting his guard down and having fun. "This is worse than when you ate all of those beans!" He let out some fake exaggerated coughs and acted like he was passing out.

Ghoul pouted, but laughed when Jet hobbled back in, mouth full of food to the point that his cheeks were puffed up. 'What did I miss' came out as "I need to piss." Soon enough, Ghoul was cracking up and almost swaying in his chair. Kobra rolled his eyes at the morons, they were too much sometimes. All that seriousness built up and just seemed to explode on them.

The laughter finally quieted and Poison and Kobra began to gear up. Kobra smoothed his hair back and put his glasses on, they would be taking the Trans today. His bike seemed to sing in approval for getting a break. Sliding in, the two drove off down the asphalt under the burning glare of the sun.

The drive was less muggy with just the two of them. Everything seemed quiet, these runs were more risky then their usual quick attacks. There were more Dracs in the area and it usually broke out and escalated very quickly. It was hard to tell how a Drac was going to react. Sometimes they just attacked, those were easy to handle, but the ones who ran, those were a bit tricky. When they got away was the worst, because they knew within an hour the entire Zone would be crawling with those little peons. And sometimes, numbers do matter.

Cracking his neck, Poison pulled to a stop a good mile away from the spot. He frowned, seeing another car there already, an old Nova. Poison drew his gun at the man who was slinking out, his eyes fixed into a glare, slipping out unnoticed until he was right behind him. He fisted the blue jacket with a hiss. "State your name or you're dead."

The other man jumped up and looked around wildly. He was a young man, around the age of 25, a slight 5 'o clock shadow on his chin. He frowned at seeing who it was, the red headed leader of the 'fabulous killjoys'.

"Bright Eyes," the youth announced with a smooth, almost mocking tone. "Don't worry, I know who you are, everyone does." He shook his head and looked back to the nearby base. "Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to wo-"

"You little punk!" Poison snarled and turned him, grabbing the front of his jacket, all but spitting venom. "I'm gonna beat your ass you little-"

"Poison! Stop it!" Kobra tugged the redhead off. "We don't have time for this, we need to get in and get out. He frowned at the younger man for a moment. "You're trying to get supplies too?" The kid just nodded, crossing his arms, trying to look cooler than he felt, he was shaken up by Poison's quick, violent movements.

Kobra sighed and shook his head. "We need more backup, come on," he muttered, taking charge this time. Poison was clearly too emotional to handle this right now. Slipping his glasses back up his face, Kobra tugged his gun out and took a low stance. Poison frowned but mimicked his motions, creeping down the invisible road. Bright Eyes stood there for a moment before following them. Despite his former rebellion he couldn't help but watch in awe of how smooth and perfectly they seemed to move fluid like water.

The movements were painful; Bright Eyes' back was hurting after the first five minutes. It was hard to keep up with the other two. They were so fast and didn't seem to show any signs of wear. He felt his heart racing and his cheeks flushing. He could understand why they were called the best runners now. It was just this sense of authority they had over everything around them. It seemed to all be going their way, they had reached a chain-link fence when Kobra withdrew wire cutters, giving one pair to Poison then he went to work. Snapping the metal quickly and silently, making just enough space for the three of them to squeeze through. From there, Kobra sunk down even lower, and somehow moved faster. They found a case of water in the back of the stop. Kobra smirked and passed it to Poison, who turned and rushed out as fast as he could, moving the cargo to safety.

Kobra then nodded to Bright Eyes and led him into the galley. These stops were basically overly hyped up truck stops. He knew they would have SOME KIND of food. Keeping low, they searched, Kobra handed over a few cans of fruit and what looked to be higher end freeze-dried meals.

Without warning, the door knob shook. Kobra lost all coloring and motioned for the kid to get out of there. Bright Eyes ran for all he was worth, not looking back until he had successfully slipped out of the hole and gotten a good quarter mile from that fence. Panting, he glanced back not seeing Poison grab his jacket harshly.

"Where the fuck is my brother?" Poison roared in anger, shaking roughly. Why the fuck wasn't he there?

"I-I… the door! The door was being opened and he made me go!" The kid tried to defend himself; he was shaking like a leaf. Poison had scared the piss out of him, quite literally.

Poison was about to yell again when a hand clamped over his lips. "Shut up," Kobra's voice hissed a large sack over his shoulder. "Every fucking Drac at that site is going to hear you if you don't." His eyes narrowed as he forced them back to their cars and slumped into the sand.

Poison frowned at him, beyond pissed that he would save some random kid over his own ass. "What's in the bag?' Poison finally muttered.

Kobra smirked and reached in, producing three cans of cursed ham, a frozen looking chunk of meat in an oversized plastic bag and a full ham. Poison's mouth dropped and Bright eyes literally started drooling, it was real meat. Not dog food, meat.

Kobra frowned, looking to the kid; he did help them out, after all. "Hey, kid, you wanna come get some of this before it goes bad?" He wasn't sure if this guy had a home and well, he didn't deserve to get gypped. Poison frowned at Kobra straight away. He didn't like where this was going.

Bright Eyes blinked slightly and nodded. He wasn't sure what he just agreed to but it sounded like eating with the fabulous four. Kobra nodded and packed up the Trans, ignoring his brother's loathing glares. "Come on, just follow us, don't fall behind." He sighed and got into the car.

Poison threw his hands up and got in as well, why didn't they just broadcast their location straight to Korse and get this bullshit over with! If they were going to have anyone over, well they were slitting their own throats!

The drive back to base was eerily silent. Poison was totally fuming at his brother for this. This was a fully grown man who clearly didn't need them, why the fuck should they invite him in? Kobra just frowned as he sped down Route Guano. He didn't wanna hear his brother's petty objections or looks. They needed good communication if they wanted to keep living the way they did. It always always better to make an ally then an enemy out here. Pulling up to the diner, the brothers unloaded the food, Bright Eyes leaving his car and nodding to them. He was in shock to even be there.

After the food was inside, Kobra went to work. In addition to being the medic, he was the only one they trusted to make food. Anyone else was liable to do something stupid and screw it up, or worse yet, get an idea for a prank and start a full on riot. Just like Ghoul with the sneezing powder gumbo. That shit was the worst. Kobra cooked the perishables as fast as he could; he wasn't able to cook the full ham so he chopped half of it off and started lacing it with some old salt. He had to make sure this didn't go bad before they would get to it. This was feast by their means.

Jet and Ghoul were hanging around the kitchen, enticed by the scent of meat cooking. It was the most delicious thing they'd smelled in so long. They couldn't help but be drawn in by its lust. Poison, however, was eying Bright Eyes with anger, saying he didn't want him here would have been an understatement. He just wanted a goddamn day home alone, but this shit was gonna go down. When the kid took a step Poison mirrored it, making sure he wouldn't get any more information about them.

Bright Eyes sensed the dislike but shrugged it off with a frown. He didn't care; there was free food in it for him. Kobra soon came out serving the food on cardboard; it was all they had that wouldn't totally break under the weight of the food. Ghoul just dug in with his hands, Kobra rolled his eyes and tried to avoid his hands when he was cutting with his pocket knife. The pink fleshed opened with a lavish scent that even got Poison to look away from Bright Eyes. The five men hurried around it, soon following Ghoul's example.

Within minutes, the food was gone and Ghoul was gnawing at the bone, like a little starved hamster trying to get whatever meat he could. Sighing happily, he slumped down and patted his belly. "Mmm, pig flesh," He joked and beamed as he rolled away, happy to be full. Jet groaned and lay down on the booth. He was content. But he soon rose to man the CB, he knew Pony would be there soon and wanted to check on his status.

Poison looked to the kid, who was leaning back with his eyes closed, then to Kobra. He brought him here and now it was his job to get rid of him. He didn't wanna deal with it. Kobra frowned at the boy and rose on cue. "So uh, kid, you got any place you're stayin'?"

Bright eyes blinked and looked at the younger brother with a nod, cracking his neck. "Well, I've been crashin' in my Nova…" He explained as he stood. "But I gotta get outta here anyway, thanks for the food." He nodded to Kobra and headed back out the doors. Kobra blinked, that was easier than he had expected.

Turning to his brother, he frowned at the heavy smirk on Poison's face. "Do you have to be like that? He was a good kid, and he helped get all that food."

"He was a liability," Poison snarled back, "he could have taken our plans and given them to Bli, why the hell would you risk that?"

Kobra rolled his eyes. "He could be a connection, and frankly we can use more of them then we ha-"

"We have Tommy, D and Pony! We don't need anyone else!" Poison fumed at Kobra and stamped his feet like a child. "Why do you wanna bring more people in?! This operation is risky being as big as it is already!"

Kobra frowned at him. "I never said to bring them in! I just think it's a good plan if we need back up!"

"Hello everyone!" Pony announced when he came into the diner. "Did you all miss me?" He beamed, and put his hand on his hip, posing in his usual diva stance with a grin.

"Shut up, Pony!" Poison snapped not realizing he had until it was too late.

Pony pushed out his lower lip slightly. "Well someone's a grumpy butt!" he exclaimed offended at Poison's tone. He handed the message from D over to Jet, who seemed to be in the best mood, and at that moment the most trust worthy. "I'll just be on my way." With a hair flip, he turned to leave.

Poison sighed. "Pony, wait, I didn't mean to… Kobra's just being a dumbass-"

"ME?! That's you!" Kobra snapped back, jumping to his feet, the two were in each other's faces within moments, arguing, with obscenities flying after each other. Ghoul peeked his head into the room with a snicker, this was better than cable!

The yelling ended when Poison shoved his brother back and headed back to his room, slamming the door so hard that an askew picture fell from the wall, crashing onto the floor into a million little pieces. Kobra sighed and shook his head, sweeping up the glass before someone cut their foot open. This fighting was killing him, in all honesty.

Ghoul rolled up to Kobra and smacked his lower back. "Hey, come on Kid, we can go to the club again to get rid of your stress?" He gave him a filthy smirk and winked. Kobra just groaned and slumped into a booth, the shards of glass glistening in his dust pan.

"How about we never do that again?" Kobra offered, tugging a loose string off his jacket and adding it to the dustpan. He went to throw the debris away without a response. Once Ghoul was healed, he knew that was gonna be one of the first things he would want to do. Disgusting.

The silence lasted a moment longer until Jet let out a week airy gasp. Both sets of eyes snapped to him in alarm. He was as pale as the sand hit by the sun around noon. He looked like he was going to vomit. Kobra rushed to Jet's side to see if he was harmed, and Ghoul rolled as fast as he could to get Poison, this was bad. Jet wasn't the kind to play tricks.

Once the four of them were together, Poison noticed his brother was as pale as Jet, the note from D shaking in his hands. "Get a map," Kobra whispered bleakly, he had to be certain before he said anything.

Poison nodded and grabbed one laying it out. Poison frowned when he circled a small area. It happened to be the town where they had been staying. "What the fuck is going on, Kobra?" Poison demanded harshly.

Kobra swallowed. "There was a major raid at the coordinates, they attacked almost everything and burned most of it." A heavy silence hung in the air at those words. Poison shook his head weakly. He knew it was entirely their fault; this was why they shouldn't have stuck around. Sometimes it seemed like they just destroyed everything they touched.

"This has to be wrong," Poison whispered out, thinking of all the faces he had seen over the past week, "It… it has to be." He wasn't expecting this to be so hard. People died everyday out here, but for whatever reason the thought of that town being destroyed made him feel like someone yanked out his heart.

Without another word Poison stomped for the Trans, Kobra frowned following, what was he doing?! Silently, Poison drove off, leaving the other three men behind. He had to see this for himself, it had to be wrong. He knew the risk of going into a raid zone; he had to leave everyone else behind. He sped on the sands with his eyes fixed in a heavy glare; D had to have gotten it wrong...


	5. Close your eyes

p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The town sat on the horizon as eerily as ever, the scent of burnt wood filled Poison's nose. He gagged weakly, his eyes growing wide in realization, D was right. The wood frames were nothing more than black ashes sitting in piles of rubble. Scanning the town, he saw it was almost empty. Poison stepped out of his car and ran a hand through his knotted mane, his frown never leaving. Maybe fifteen people were left, far from the normal cry of fifty. br /br /The old woman approached him, her face streaked with tears through the black soot. She looked distraught. "They came from nowhere," she whispered in her thick accent, wheezing heavily, the remains of smoke making it hard for her to breathe. "They burn everything and leave." Her eyes were glassy as a few fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder to find Poison looking down at her, trying to comfort /br /Striding through the few people who were gathered, he took inventory of what they had. ememSomeone's gonna have to step up here/em./em He cleared his throat. "I know you're all shaken up, but this isn't the time to break down! You have two choices, you either pick up the pieces of this town and rebuild, or you leave and start a new life, now choose!" His voice was sharp, eyes darting to each of the dirty /br /The young mechanic ran his hand over his soot covered face, trying to get the black away from his eyes. "I have nowhere else to go," he mumbled /br /Poison looked at the group who all seemed to be in agreement. "Alright then," he said, "Tonight you'll all be in charge of getting whatever resources you can save from this wreck." He motioned to some of the crumbling buildings as he spoke, "Stone, wood, metal, whatever isn't totally destroyed, and tomorrow be prepared to work harder than you have ever worked in your life!" He snarled at them, waiting for /br /A few people's faces twisted in disgust at the idea, but what choice did they have? Risk dying in the desert? Or worse, get caught and taken into the city. Poison nodded at them and walked away from the crowd back to the Trans. He frowned, however, seeing a form cowering behind a large bulk of stone. He walked over to look and make sure the person wasn't dead or dying. Despite the black smears covering her body, he recognized her as the waitress who didn't know her /br /"Hey, kid," he grumbled, nudging her with the toe of his boot. "Get up, get some shelter and rest up, you've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."br /br /She jumped as she looked up to him, thick tears streaming down her face. "Wh-what?" br /br /"Get up, we gotta rebuild this shit tomorrow." he nodded at her, watching her rise and join the others. This was gonna be hell, he really didn't have much to work with in the ways of labor here, did he?em emI hope these idiots can handle it./em/em His face twisted as he slipped back into the Trans and shocked the engine to life, speeding off for home. emWhat the fuck did I get myself into?/embr /br /The three remaining members of his team were waiting, arms crossed and upset, what the hell was he thinking just taking off like that?! Kobra had been pacing wildly. emHe's going to get himself killed one day doing this! Why couldn't he just wait for us? Let us help for once?! Oh, wait, no that would be the smart thing to do!/em He growled and tugged his dirty, blonde hair when the Trans Am pulled up. Kobra was the first out the door. br /br /"You idiot!" Kobra growled, slamming his hands down on the hood of the car. "You could have died! You could have been killed! Then we'd be left without a damn leader and without any transportation!"br /br /Poison's lips twisted into a scowl. "Oh, quit with the dramatics!" He sighed and headed into the diner, brushing past his other teammates. If they didn't get it already, he wouldn't waste his breath trying to /br /Ghoul exchanged a look with Jet before sighing and wheeling back to his room. He didn't want to deal with the brother drama tonight. No one /br /The next day was as tense as before, Poison and Kobra wouldn't so much as look each other in the eyes. Ghoul let out a sigh before rolling over to them. "Come on, boys, give us a smile." He gave one of his good old fashioned smiles no one could resist. Kobra looked over and slowly his mask of anger broke into a small smile back. emI dunno how anyone could manage to stay mad with this fucker around./embr /br /Poison, however, wasn't as easy to break, shooting ghoul a heavy scowl before looking down to his hands. He clenched them into fists. "We're going out," he ground out between clenched teeth and rose heading to pack his gear. A few moments of silence followed the older brother's order, but the team slowly got into gear. Poison extended his hand when Ghoul made to leave. "We need you here to watch the waves."br /br /Ghoul opened his mouth to shout his defiance but soon snapped it shut. He knew at this point it would only make shit worse. emI'm really never gonna be heard until i'm better, am I?/em He sunk back into his seat, letting out a hiss of /br /Nodding to the chair stuck man, Jet was the last to head out. He shook his head and took pity on people with more pleasant jobs, like digging ditches or scrubbing the elderly. Slumping into the backseat, he tuned out the bickering of the brothers in the front seats. He sighed as they sped off. Today was gonna be a long ass /br /The two seemed to quiet down after a while, however Jet still felt a slight tension between the brothers. emThey're still ready to rip each other's throats out./em Shaking his head lightly, Jet looked around with a frown of realization. The once fruitful town was nothing more than a few crumbling buildings and piles of brick and wood. The townspeople were huddled, shaking heavily around a small fire, all they had for protection against the freezing night. The three men climbed out of the TransAm and approached the fire. Mostly women, a few thin men. Poison sighed and shook his head. "The first thing we need to do is build a shelter," he barked at them. "You'll be dead within the week if you don't." br /One of the thinner men rose and nodded. emThat's that kid who worked as the mechanic…/emKobra thought to himself as he helped the kid lay out some weak plans for a ragtag shelter. br /br /Whiskers quickly moved to help him lay things out, Kobra had grabbed a small bucket of half dried cement and headed to start the frame and foundation of something to shield them from the cold. br /br /Poison looked to the others and sighed. "The next step is food," he said, looking at the women in particular. "It's hard to find unspoiled plants at times, so you need to be careful, if any canned goods made it we need them out here." A few people stepped forward with jars of honey and other nonperishables. Slowly, Poison went over each and every item, taking a mental inventory before nodding curtly. "Next thing is learning to live off of what the land can offer; snakes, lizards, anything that has meat. Be careful of the coyotes, they can carry diseases." br /br /Quiet talk rose amongst the townsfolk and a few of the men stepped forward eager to hunt. Jet nodded to take the few and teach them how to spot healthier meat from the diseased. "If it's a carcass, it's out, no matter how healthy it looks. You don't know what killed it, and I guarantee it could probably kill you too. Mangled fur isn't an out, but you wanna make sure it's not too patchy, that's a sign of radiation poisoning..." The man started, giving them a full /br /Poison turned to the last few left and spoke again. "Your job is to maintain the fire" He narrowed his eyes at the pathetic flame and moved to grab some dried grass and throw it in, giving the heat a little bit of hope. "This is one of the most important things you can do," he sighed and nodded as a few people mimicked his actions, throwing small twigs and dried bits of cactus into the flame. It was still pathetic, but now it had some /br /Poison rose up, heading to help his brother and the skinny kid with the foundation. Honestly, it looked like shit, but they didn't have much to work with. And frankly, this was their best shot at surviving right now. The building process was the slowest; every time they managed to get a foot off the ground one of their supports sunk into the sand, sending whatever small victory they had literally into the ground. As the sun rose and the heat increased, it seemed even harder. Slick palms and an unstable foundation seemed to be their /br /By the time the sun had set, they had something up, maybe five feet off the ground. It wasn't much but it seemed stable enough that it wouldn't collapse on them in their sleep. This was going to be even harder than Poison expected. He spat into the ground, shaking his head. It was gonna be a long couple of /br /The drive home was long and strained everyone deep in their own thoughts. A slight animosity between the brothers ruined it for Jet; he squirmed in his seat and looked out the window, trying to remember a time before drama infested their lives like this. Back when they had lived in the city. br /br /Jet sighed loudly, wishing Ghoul could have come. Any chance of hope between them was more than welcome. Raids had been hitting further out lately, just by driving through the massive amounts of sand, anyone could see it. Scattered clothing, a broken campsite, embers smoldering in a fire pit. The beat up old clunker screamed who the victor was. They had to keep fighting. They just had /br /Heading inside, two of the four men threw their bags down onto the tile, tracking in dirt and other messes no one would bother to clean up. Kobra was the one who fell back, his face in his hands. He had felt like such a mess since he was separated from her. His girl. br /br /He could remember the look on her slender face; they had run off to try to be together. And then they woke up to a riot, the crowd had pushed them apart and he hadn't seen her since. Shaking his head, he pushed the foggy memory back, he couldn't afford to stress about these things. After all, she could handle herself. Looking to his hands, he finally rose up, might as well attempt to get along again. Of course he'd be the one to give in, after all he always /br /Trudging into the old diner, he frowned at the mess on the floor. With an exasperated sigh and a broom he did his best to clean the mess up. He felt like the maid, but at least it gave him some time to decide what to say…emem'Hey Posion, I don't wanna fight with you, you should just stop being an idiot...'/emNo, wait, he'd just argue about that again. em'Poison, look, I'm sorry I freaked out, I just worry...' That won't work either/em./em With a slight kick of frustration to one of the booths, Kobra exhaled, heading to the back of the diner and knocking at Poison's /br /The door swung open, revealing Poison's same old room, filthy and covered in maps. The usual odor poured out of the open door. The red head was stripped down to his jeans with his arms crossed over his dirty and slightly scarred torso. "The fuck do you want, Kid?" Poison all but /br /Kobra frowned and shook his head. "Listen, I know you're pissed at me, but I just worry. You're the only family I have anymore, and we need to stick together." Placing his hand on Poison's shoulder, Kobra sighed. "I didn't mean to attack you or whatever, I just love you."br /br /Poison just looked at the hand for a moment, his lips pressed tight in response. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Poison shook his head. "Listen Kid, I can handle myself, I've managed to go this far without dying. You don't have to worry about it." With a slight grunt, Poison pulled back staring his brother dead in the eyes. "I'm always gonna be here, got it?"br /br /Kobra frowned but gave a quick nod. emNot exactly what i was hoping for but at least he won't try to punch my face in./em Marking this up as a victory, he headed for his own room and dug through his desk. Unlike his brother's mess, Kobra tended to keep all of his maps put away, nice and rolled and neat. He couldn't stand the idea of not being able to find what he needed in a mess of sweaty clothes and ripped up papers. Checking over a few details for an upcoming run, he tugged both boots off and climbed into bed, a long day's work now /br /The night's rest was short lived, unfortunately. Nightmares plagued the redheaded leader, throwing him intol a cold panic, his heart thudding wildly in his chest as he sat up, groaning slightly and heading to his clothing covered nightstand, pouring himself a quick drink. The whiskey was strong against his lips, a burning sensation filled him and he swore under his breath. Too many raids fucked with his head, and he hated it. He went to look at himself in the mirror, his five 'o clock shadow a bit thicker, tired bags under his red eyes. ememI look like shit/em./em He shook his head and ran his fingers through his dirty hair. br /br /Giving up on the idea of getting rest, Poison went to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee, inhaling the scent. It was poor quality and tasted like shit, but it did the job. To his surprise, Ghoul came out next, his own face shadowed with exhaustion. He glanced to his brother in arms and nodded. "I feel like some pussy kid, scared of boogeymen," he muttered, and took in with Poison on the /br /The two sat there in silence, hardly looking at each other, the dark color of their drink seemed to call their attention. Sighing, Ghoul took a sip coughing and muttered something under his breath to the effect of 'rat piss swill'. However, he dove in for another gulp, needing its soothing effect. Coffee always worked interestingly with him, he didn't get hyper and insane, but instead it woke him up and calmed him. Finishing his cup, he looked up to Poison./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"What plan are you forming?" He arched a brow, knowing the look on his friend's face. br /"Nothing," Poison deadpanned and looked over, "just nothing."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"I know that look, man. It's not anything, just spill."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Poison sighed and finished his coffee shakily, getting another cup. "We might need to relocate," his voice was strong but his shaking hands revealed his true emotion. "These raids are getting closer and closer to the diner. It's just not as safe as before." /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Ghoul blinked up at him in no less than shock, he didn't know how to respond to this. For the past few years it had been their home, and although he knew one day they'd have to leave, he didn't know if he was ready. "I think," he paused and looked at his empty mug, "You're right. We should move on." His voice held a bit of excitement actual life shone in his eyes when he looked to Poison. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Nodding to his teammate, Poison headed to the Trans to look her over. He dusted off her windshield with his handkerchief and smiled at her, petting her hood. "We're gonna kick some ass out there, eh?" He spoke softly and finished wiping down his mirrors the best he could, just enough to see out of them. Looking the horizon, he sighed, a rush of energy hitting him. emI think we're going to be okay./em Smirking to himself, he started to throw some old rags out of the back, they'd finish up their good deed and move on. After all, that's what a killjoy's life was /br /Packing their things for the day, Poison ran his hand through his knotted hair, he didn't even know how to start this day. However, he found himself smirking soon after, thinking of the reputation this good deed would buy him with the ladies. Chuckling to himself, he began to look toward the sunrise, inhaling and exhaling deeply. Something about this time was just magic for him; the way the sun peaked over the mountains made him feel energized. His nightmare and lack of sleep seemed far away from here. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /The team slowly dragged themselves out of the diner, Kobra stretching his back muscles and nodding to his brother before slipping into the Trans. Jet was the last to join them, he looked dead on his feet. He just sat in the back of the Trans and started cleaning his gun slowly. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Poison smirked and took his usual seat before nodding to Ghoul and cracking his knuckles. "Ready to raise some hell?" He teased his best friend who just nodded back, a heavy smirk on his lips. Driving at sunrise made the desert a bit more bearable, it wasnt as humid or hot. And driving away from the sun was a blessing in /br /Their destination was hardly standing, the makeshift building had held up, but the winds that whipped through the openings didn't seem to help much. Pulling up, Poison sighed, rising out of the Trans and smirked before heading over to the group, nodding to his team and watching as one by one the townspeople emerged from the makeshift shelter. It was as if a thick fog was over them, something destroyed in their will to keep fighting. Poison went straight to work, no words were needed. Sometimes it was just easier this way, to silently help out and leave knowing they left a good impression. Slowly, people began to join him in rebuilding their town./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Razor was one of the first, she had tied her light blonde hair back in a ponytail and layered her clothes up the best she could. She was trying to focus on makeshift tents for now, the men were making long term buildings. The process was slow and grueling as the sun began to beat down on them. A lot of the townspeople had a look of surrender in their eyes. What was the point of fighting anymore?br /br /As he worked, Poison looked around, it seemed everyone was working. He sighed and cracked his knuckles, his stomach growling angrily. He sighed; shaking it off, and moved to put down the bricks he was layering and stretch his back. He blinked, seeing someone sitting on the other side of a crumbling wall. He frowned heavily at the figure and walked over. It was that waitress chick with the bad /br /"Uh, what do you think you're doing?" He barked, his lips pressed into a tight humorless line./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /She looked up and rolled her eyes with a sigh "I'm trying to sleep here." /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"That's not gonna happen," he muttered, pulling her up. "We're all working our asses off over here, and you think it's a good idea to just sleep?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Her lips twisted into a snarl but she bit it back, seeing the look on this dude's face. "Who are you to boss me around?" /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Bad response. emOnly the guy who saved your lives./em He released her arm and shook his head. "Just go do some actual work and we won't have any issue," he spat harshly and shook his head. emThis is bullshit, resting my ass./embr /br /He headed back to working on laying some foundation, it was sloppy and probably done wrong but that wasn't the focus at the moment. The important thing was protecting them from the elements./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Within a few minutes the violet haired woman joined in the work, doing, if anything, more harm than good. Poison twisted his lips as he kept an eye on everyone, but saw her repeatedly screw up. Sighing and running a hand through his hair in his aggravation, he walked over./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"So, it looks like you have no idea what you're doing."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"Uh, yeah, because I don't." /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /"Well how about I help you out?"br /br /She paused and looked up at this guy, shrugging slightly as she tried to pick up a small bucket of cement. Poison dove in to help her carry it, no words passed as he helped her lay it down for a foundation. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /By this time, the sun was dead center in the sky. They'd gotten a good amount done in one morning, but there was loads left to be done. Poison tugged out his handkerchief and wiped his face off with a slight smirk. ememI'm no goddamn builder but, this isn't too hard/em./em Chuckling to himself, he headed to his brothers-in-arms to get some Pup. Luckily, that was one thing the town seemed to have on their own. After a quick bite of their least favorite food, Kobra and Ghoul went to run the perimeter to keep an eye out for any Drac raids./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /With cement drying on their faces, the two sped off, a small smirk on Ghoul's face. He wasn't supposed to get out and run yet because he was hardly walking, however, he could stay in the driver's seat and blast some drac ass. emFinally, I can get back to my life./em He snickered and looked to Kobra, who just smirked back. Both of them seemed excited to get back to their normal lives and away from this /br /They ran a circle around the town a few miles out, the Trans easily ripping through the sands. Kobra adjusted himself, leaning out the window, gun in hand. Hot air whipped into his face. He usually wore his helmet on runs like these, but it was far too hot today and he didn't want to have to deal with being a fountain of sweat. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /As they drove, both did their best to downplay their excitement and focus on the task at hand. It seemed their leader's instincts were right, within a few moments, there was a dust cloud ripping toward them, they nodded and smirked, charging their guns and speeding off. It wasn't a Better Living car, but a motorcycle; black with that goddamn smiley face staring them down. The rider was in all black, that was all Ghoul needed. He fired, his shot effectively blowing out the rider's tire. Clearly alarmed, the rider did his best to steady his bike from its wild flailing and ran off of it. He pulled his gun on the approaching car, firing at them. Before he could tug off his helmet, painful blasts erupted through his body multiple times. Ghoul cheered and pulled up, sending Kobra out to take whatever was left on the body, the blonde jumped out, gleeful at this proposition, but soon went a deathly shade of pale. emThis man, he isn't Better Living!/em/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The form on the ground groaned, his dark hair falling from behind his mask, inked face groaning in pain. His face was heavily bruised and bleeding, his eyes weakly opened to look up at Kobra with a grimace. Falling back panting heavily as Ghoul ran over, still excited about the unexpected victory, after seeing Kobra's face however Ghoul's smile dropped and he rushed over in /br /By the tattoos and the length of his hair, this man was clearly not better living. Kobra frowned his guard still on high; you never knew when better living would send out operatives dressed as killjoys, to take them down. He kept his gun on the man's chest "State your name" He growled /br /The man's dark eyes opened up clashing with Kobra's hazel ones. "Violent ink" /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Kobra frowned and lowered his gun, he heard of this guy. Radical techniques; ran on his own. "Give me proof and I'll help you out."br /br /Ink managed to pull his jacket off, his intricate tattoos revealed, Kobra glared down, tattoos were the worst way of identifying if you asked him. Too easy to fake and replicate. Sighing and nodding to ghoul to keep his gun at the ready, slowly removing his jacket fully. br /br /Ink groaned the sand digging into the fresh wounds, he chuckled to himself "I guess this is what i get for wearing leather pants, eh?" he weakly /br /Kobra didn't respond, he was right. It was his own damn fault, sticking to black and white out here. Of course someone's gonna think you work for Bli. emidiot./em he sighed to himself applying a herb based lotion to the blaster wounds on the man's torso. ememI can't fix everyone who gets themself into these messes/em./em Shaking his head, he pulled back and turned to /br /Ghoul stared at him his lips pressed into a hard line. ememWhat are we gonna do with this kid? We can't leave him out here like this/em./em The staring match between the two older killjoys lasted a few moments before Kobra sighed and shrugged giving in and helping Ghoul lift the man into the Trans. Ink squirmed in their hands slightly but soon stilled, he was too beat up to handle fighting back right now, anyway things usually worked out for /br /Getting into the car and driving back was more stressful this time, Kobra taking the wheel, they'd have to bring him back to base and keep an eye on him at all times. Kobra still didn't trust this guy; it's too easy to fall into traps, name or no name. Sighing the three went onto Route Guano and headed back to the /br /Pulling up Kobra blinked at the progress, they'd actually gotten a lot done in the hours they'd been gone, em not embad, not bad/em./em Sighing and stretching out he went to the back to carry this kid out, catching Poison's /br /Poison rushed over with a heavy untrusting look, "what the fuck happened here?" br /br /"We shot at this kid thinking he was Bli, well we fucked up on this one." br /"I don't care you shouldn't have brought him here!"br /br /"He needs medic-"br /br /"He needs to get the fuck outta here and not bring more attention!" Poison snapped back /br /Kobra frowned their eyes meetings before he sighed, come on man I'm not in the mood to fight after the day I've had" He was almost /br /Poison threw his arms up and snarled. He couldn't believe this shit. "Fine, whatever just keep him low and out of my way."br /br /Kobra looked to Ghoul and nodded, the two carrying away from the car, Ghoul gently placed Ink down, before running to get some old cloth to lay the man down on, letting Kobra go to work on his wounds, today was going to be a busy day...br /br /Ghoul sighed and ran his hand through his messy hair. Inhaling before moving to sit down for a moment, his stomach was aching pretty badly and he winced at the thought of being stuck in that damn wheelchair again. However he managed a smile, looking up at everyone working around him, their focus and effort, it was refreshing to see, better than the usual bull around these parts, idiots wanting to be handed /br /Razor blinked seeing the man sitting down, she hustled over panting slightly and smiled at him, "Hey are you okay?"br /br /Ghoul blinked looking up at the woman, "Oh yeah just a bit tired!" He flashed her one of his good old /br /She beamed back and nodded, "Good, I just wanted to make sure!"br /br /With a laugh she headed to go back to work, putting together whatever she could to make a semi decent sleeping bag. She had managed to forge one that was useable, but her other attempts were less than decent. Sighing she shook her head; she wouldn't let this get her down! She just had to work harder!br /br /Her mindset however was shaken soon after, she went slightly pale and ran to the leader of that group helping them. br /br /"Hurry!" She gasped out grabbing her side and wincing in /br /"What's going on?" The red head /br /"D-draculoids, coming from the northwest!" br /br /Party Poison's face fell, he nodded and called Kobra and Jet over. The three of them grabbed their masks, their guns then headed that way; Leaving Ghoul to keep an eye out for a sneak /br /The cars were gaining fast, Poison whipped out his gun ready to fire, however the cars turned to avoid the group. Snarling, Poison ran after them, his two teammates close behind, this was bad, he just knew it. They began to try to shoot out the tires and hissed when the car turned toward the town. ememOh shit/em./em Poison took off at a sprint to try and get there first, however the cars caught up first. Bright blasts were flying all over, the air sizzling around. People crying, being hi, Dracs falling, it was nothing less than /br /A few of the townspeople pulled guns and tried to fight back with The Fabulous Four but quite a few of them were gunned down. Kobra found himself tripping over someone injured and hissed out as he himself fell to his knees, eyes set on his /br /The blasts and bodies were falling so fast, Ghoul just fell on auto pilot pulling his guns from his vest and rapid firing both of them. His side was flaring up with sharp pains that ran to a dull throbbing in his ankle. Hissing to himself and gritting his teeth, Ghoul managed to peg two Dracs right between the eyes. They fell easily, and it was all Ghoul could do to suppress a victory smirk, he knew it was too early though. Too close for comfort. The tides changed fast in these quick battles, if more came. As soon as Poison and Jet joined up in the riot-like battle most of the blast had gone down. Poison was snarling at himself for not thinking this through. Looking around at all the corpses, friend and foe he swore heavily. So distracted by his anger he almost missed the Draculoid trying to jump /br /"Fuck! Jet-!" He saw the drac pull his gun and ran, Jet spinning around wildly and aiming his own gun when a white blast went off. Time seemed to stand still for him; he hardly sensed Poison's blaster going off. But before he closed his eyes, feeling the shock of pain he heard a small moan. The one girl he met in the hospital, Razor was propped up against him a blood seeping through the sleeve of her shoulder. The Drac had fallen and the only noise was the quite moan of /br /Swallowing thickly Jet knelt down to examine her wound. It wasn't too bad but he signaled Kobra over nonetheless. Once he was over, Kobra did his best to clean her wound and start to wrap it, while Jet and Ghoul tended to those still breathing. /p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Poison let out an angry grunt and kicked a rock heading for what little group was unharmed, maybe two or three huddled to together, wide eyed with fear. br /br /"You have to get out of here," This was his biggest worry. "They're going t keep raiding this spot until you do, just, head south until you can find another campsite." With a quick nod he headed back to his team, muttering slightly under his /br /Ghoul was kneeling down wrapping up some kids arm and giving her a smile. She couldn't have been more than five, "Look how brave you were" He chuckled out and looked around, the kid's mom was one of the few unharmed, he handed the tot over with another grin "you keep fightin 'em eh?" He offered with a small nod, the little girl face brimming with tears managed a little wave at him. A bigger grin spread across Fun Ghoul's face, he waved at her and walked over where the other three were /br /The blonde was now laughing rubbing her wrapped arm and shaking her head "I know it was stupid" She managed /br /Jet chuckled softly "yeah, it was. You shouldn't do that for me, I'm tough."/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Ghoul rolled his eyes and smacked Jet on the back with a laugh, "yeah his hair provides some extra padding."br /br /Rolling his eyes at Ghoul, Jet shook his head "Are you alright though?" Razor nodded with a small smile getting to her /br /"I've had worse before, and I'll have it again." She laughed softly and beamed. Jet just smiled back and nodded before rising up. Looking to Poison and giving him a slight nod. br /Poison did another lap trying to help prepare any transportation he could for those who were leaving. He came to the last person and sighed running a hand through his hair, "I don't suppose you know anyone else in the Zones?" He offeredbr /br /Revenge shook her head "I know someone" She rasped out and /br /"Let me guess, they can't pick you up then?" His face fell to a harsh frown when she nodded, groaning slightly Poison shook his head. "Get in the damn car then." He hated letting strangers in his baby but he didn't want to deal with the outcome of leaving some idiot out alone. Jet and Ghoul moved to help load Ink up, Jet holding the weak man to sit /br /She said nothing and kept her lisp pressed in a tight line, watching the other members fall in she crawled in the back of the /br /"Where are we going then?" Poison all but snapped pulling his mask off and putting his shades on, his eyes fixed on the woman in the backseat. She rattled of some general landmarks and Poison's lips fell into a grimace, this was gonna be a pain in the ass, he just knew it. Ghoul flashed him a weak smile and a shrug and they sped /br /The ride was long and awkward to say the least. Kobra seemed less than thrilled to be sitting next to the woman, while Ghoul was dryly chatting it up. He was slyly throwing in a snide comment now and again, watching her nod, clearly not getting it. Poison was soon annoyed with the sound of Ghoul's laugh, his day had been too long, so he flipped on the radio blasting Mad gear and the Missile kid. it was the best damn therapy in the Zones, harsh metal blaring out everything driving him nuts, his foot all the way down, and his baby revving up for him. br /br /Kobra bit his lip one eye on the horizon, his other on the woman. He didn't like the idea of her really being here, but his brother said it was fine, so it would be fine, right? He didn't know if this was the best path, but it was the one they were stuck on. He just looked to the injured man treating his wounds in /br /Within a few hours they pulled up to a dirty looking warehouse, Kobra blinked slightly, something about it made his skin crawl. Revenge got out and headed to the door, a rough looking bouncer there, emwait a second./em Kobra's brow furrowed emis this the-/em he gagged at the memory. br /br /The bouncer loomed over her, hushed words exchanged. Poison put the car into reverse, about to drive away when the bouncer grabbed that chick. His face fell and he parked the car getting out hand on his hip. "Do ya mind tellin' me what you're doin'?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /The bouncer looked up "Stay outta this kid or i'll mess yo-"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Poison just smirked darkly hand on his gun, "You didn't just call me a kid." His hair whipping in front of his glasses, he meant business. The bouncer glared to it and shoved Revenge /br /"She's out." He growled and slammed the door. br /br /Revenge got to her feet and swore running a hand through her hair and threw Poison a look. "Did you have to do that?"br /br /Poison rolled his eyes, emwhat is with this chick?/em "Can you at least say thank you?"br /br /She paused for a moment lips pulled back into a snarl, but it fell "Thank you..." she sighed out bitterly. br /br /He nodded and ran his hand through his locks to keep them away from his glasses, "no problem," he /br /She jutted her hip out and pursed her lips "So hero boy, where do you propose I go?" She arched a /br /Poison frowned and crossed his arms "You can't stay anywhere else?" She shook her head, "then you can crash tonight, ONE night, and leave your fuckin' clothes on."br /br /Revenge's face twisted and she followed him back to the Trans. Ghoul's eyes betrayed his feelings of disgust and confusion, Poison gave him an annoyed /br /Ghoul threw his hands up defensively, "Heyyy we got a sass queen in here" His lips pulled into a smirk watching Poison's face distort. br /br /Shrugging Ghoul off, Poison muttered under his breath heading for the diner and pulling up to a stop. Three of the four men headed inside without another word, carrying Ink inside as carefully as they could. Leaving the redheaded leader and the woman alone, he just frowned at her and shook his head "ONE night, you sleep on the booths." His voice was threatening as he headed inside to rest himself, he didn't have time for bullshit and drama! He had a group to lead here!br /br /It took a while but Revenge soon headed inside, running a hand through her knotted hair and frowning, wincing when she tugged at the small knots. The diner seemed spacious, lots of windows, dirt covered the floor, with little attempt to clean it up made. She blinked at the booths where she was instructed to rest, a faded red and most of them were cracked with age. She noticed one had an old horse's blanket and what looked similar to an airline pillow laid out in the one with the least damage. Swallowing she crawled to lay down in it the material let out a wheeze of protest but nothing more. The air smelled like dirt and sweat, it was unpleasant on her nose, but it was better than sleeping outside. Hugging her knees to her chest and closing her eyes, she soon managed to pass /br /The night was much longer for Kobra Kid, once the woman had fallen asleep he rose up, lurking in the shadows to keep an eye on her and Ink. emFuck if you'll catch me off guard./em He frowned slightly and crossed his arms leaning in a corner and watching their two sleeping form. br /br /By the time the sun peeked over the horizon the diner was bustling with life, coffee being made, pup opened, and the whining of Ghoul informed it was the start of a new day. Poison was the first up researching women's shelters they could unload the freeloaders off at. br /Revenge tossed in the small booth she had crashed in. Not used to the noise this early. She sat up with a small groan and looked around. Jet smiled at her and nodded offering a cup of coffee. If someone had to be cordial it might as well have been him. She took the cup and drank it down slowly with a small smile. emWell, maybe this wasn't so bad./em/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Kobra went to look Ink up and down; he had a lot of bad burns. Sighing he did this best to change the wraps without causing pain. He shook his head exhaustion and a good sense of despair on his face. His mood would go down soon, and he'd start lashing out. Ghoul came in two chipped mugs in hand. He passed one over and nodded weakly. He looked like he had barely slept himself. Of course, this wasn't unheard of in this diner, but it made things much more /br /Ghoul and Kobra both looked over the man, sighing as he stirred weakly, a heavy frown on his face, "where the fuck am I?" He rasped out through his chapped /br /Ghoul ran his thumb and forefinger over his eyes and shook his head, "we thought you were a special agent and shot at ya." Kobra just nodded lips pressed tight. He swallowed and headed to check their water supplies, coming back with a little in his /br /"Drink.." he whispered weakly and pressed the opening to Ink's lips. Ink quickly drank all that he was given, it was unbearably hot in this diner. His body was sticking to the padding of the booth, when he moved to sit up, it made a sickening screeching /Ghoul nodded to the man and smirked. "It could always be worse; at least we didn't mess up your hair." The joke was weak, but he was /br /Ink looked at Ghoul and grimaced, clearly not the joking type. He managed to peel his leather jacket off of his form, flexing his arms, "I guess this is what i get for overdoin' it eh?" br /br /Kobra shook his head and headed to get more water, he hated the idea of them being in debt to anyone at all, and they hardly knew this guy. But he hated the idea of letting him go without a way of fighting /br /Ghoul chuckled, "Exactly, your fault not mine! Now we can charge you for service, the Killjoy Motel!" He /br /"Oh god, fuck that shit." Ink smirked back and ran a hand through his messy dark hair, he checked out the other's tattoos. "Nice work on your neck there by the way, good hold up for this sunlight and shit."br /br /Ghoul paused and broke out into a bigger smile, "oh hell yeah, I'm one lucky son of a bitch!" he laughed loudly, "Your look pretty damn good for a pretty boy who lets 'em hang out all day" br /br /Ink laughed harder at that one, wincing sleepily, "eh what can I say, the ladies love my charm!" he smirked and leaned back against the wall, his body throbbed in protest, causing him to wince /br /"Well, i better let you rest then" Ghoul smirked and nodded, ememmaybe this fucker isn't so bad after all/em./em He chuckled to himself and headed to raid what coffee they had left, after all that was his favorite /br /Poison came through the diner soon after, a bunch of maps in his arms, he laid them out and double checked his notes, "oi! Jet!" he snapped out, the leader tone back again./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Heading over Jet handed the red head a fresh cup of coffee he salvaged before Ghoul went ape shit on their supplies. br /br /"What's the plan?" Jet arched his brow /br /Poison stroked his chin "I found a woman and children's shelter about two hours away." br /br /"We takin' the skirt?"br /br /"Only choice we have, this ain't no daycare center"br /br /"Aiight," Jet nodded heading to pack his gear /br /Poison sighed and looked around the diner, nodding when his brother walked in. Kobra nodded back the two passing instructions back and forth just with their eyes. Kobra walked over and patted his brother on the back "We'll be free soon" br /br /Poison didn't try to smile or lighten the idea, his mind was moving a mile a minute. He clearly had his own plans going on, and in his mind the future looked bleak, after all, they were never really /br /Kobra sighed and looked down, he felt like he was just screwing everything up worse for /br /Poison patted his brother back and headed to wake up Revenge. He put his foot on the seat and leaned on his knee as he shook her. "Wake up kid" He muttered until she /She sat up her hair knotted to the point it was standing up. She blinked sleepily and glared at the sun "w-what time is it?"br /br /"A little past 6" Poison frowned and stood "I'm taking you to a shelter, let's get moving"br /She grabbed her bags and followed him outside to the Trans, which was coated in dirt, seems a dust storm blew up last night. Poison used the sleeve of his jacket to dust off the wind shield and hopped in the driver's seat waiting for /br /He came out about five minutes later and slumped in the front seat nodding to Poison, they sped off, heading /br /Because it was morning the humidity wasn't too bad. In fact Revenge was so comfortable she fell asleep in the backseat. Poison glared at her in the mirror, it was never safe to fall asleep while in transit out here. Jet's hand was on his blaster, ready to go off if anyone showed up behind /br /Aside from passing a few camera drones the desert seemed pretty dead today, they passed another car at one point, one covered in neon paints, and full of young adults. A few girls stuck their heads out the window and screamed at them. But that was just their everyday. It was worse when they went to bars, they were usually flooded./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Jet pushed his helmet up and squinted, the sun reflected in the side mirror hit him directly in the eyes. He was scanning for anything else, "it's too quiet" He /br /Poison nodded, "my thoughts exactly, you think they're tracking?"br /br /"Or raiding" Jet mumbled and swore softly under his /br /Either way this was bad for them. Poison adjusted his sunglasses and glared, checking his mirrors again. He didn't know what better living was planning, but no matter what it was, it meant bad news for /br /By the time they could see the mess of tents in the distance, Poison's arms were getting sore, it'd been a while since he'd driven for a few hours straight, lately it'd been about thirty minutes max. He frowned and pulled the car to a stop this wasn't what he expected at /br /The tents were beat to shit, and there were even blood stains on some of them. The women sitting there looked sick, and the kids looked starved. There was a tall bulky man snapping at one heavy blonde woman, a woman Jet saw right away. A frown tugged at his lips and he got out. Poison following /br /Jet walked up the man and saw red when he grabbed onto Razor. In a swift motion he punched the man across the face, "hasn't anyone ever told you to be nice to girls?" Jet /The man's face twisted and he grabbed at Jet, he thought he was bigger but as soon as Jet stopped slouching, the man realized he was in trouble. In an instant the jerk was on the ground with Jet towering over him. He looked to Razor with apology and strode /br /"Are you okay?"br /br /"Y-yeah..."br /br /"Did he hurt you or anything?" he took her arm looking a the red mark, sure to /She rubbed the mark, "No, I'm fine" She smiled at /br /"What are you doing here anyway?" br /br /"Well, after the attack, I needed some place to go...so I figured a shelter would be good, boy was I wrong..." br /br /"What happened here?" He frownedbr /br /"Well, the guys who run this place are asses and try to keep us all here."br /br /Jet's face fell further as he gave Poison a look. "W-well...how about you come stay with us for a while" he inhaled ignoring the furious look on Poison's face. "I mean it has to be better than this."br /br /Razor paused considering her choices, she didn't even know this guy, then again...anything was better than here. "A-alright, but can we try to help everyone else too?"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /Jet nodded ignoring Poison still as he headed to look for a Cb to call D. After all Dr. Death Defying always had a /br /Letting out a groan Poison headed to his car, he was about to snap and tell Revenge to get the fuck out of his baby, until he saw the look on her face. She looked terrified, looking out at that camp. He shut his mouth and let out a heavy groan, this as such utter bullshit! She moved to get out and he shut the door, narrowly missing her leg. She looked up at him but he was looking away "we'll find you some place more secure" he hissed, clearly not pleased with any of /br /Revenge blinked but nodded sitting back down, her bag on her lap, she didn't know what to say. He shook his head and looked over at Razor snapping, "Oi, blondie get in!"/p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"br /She blinked but hesitated, wanting to wait for Jet to come back; she was skittish to say the least. Poison crossed his arms his frown falling further, he didn't want this was it was. His damn diner was becoming a motel!br /br /Finally walked over and got into the back of the TransAm with Revenge. She smiled sweetly at her, Revenge simply rolled her eyes and scowled looking out the window. Razor's face dropped to a sadder smile and she hugged her knees to her chest. emMaybe this wasn't a good idea/em, she inhaled sharply and /br /Jet returned after finding a CB in the largest tent. He rolled his eyes at the grumpy look on Poison's features. He could get over it. "I called D, he's arranging a pickup." br /Poison nodded, not wanting to say more, getting back into the Trans he was tempted to drive off and leave Jet, but sighed waiting till Jet got in before heading home. He was glaring into his rearview all the while, he didn't like having so many people he didn't know in his baby!br /br /The drive back seemed to last forever, Jet swallowed and headed to open the door up for Razor flashing a sweet smile. He was trying to be a gentleman. She looked at him and smiled again heading to follow him inside. Leaving a clearly pissed off Poison, who slammed his head down on the steering wheel making the car honk. He repeatedly banged his head on the horn. Revenge was heading to get out and paused leaning closer to him "hey are you okay?" she asked him /br /He looked up at her with a blank look, well that answer was obvious. She swallowed and closed her eyes for a moment, "w-well thanks for what you did back there' she whispered, in all honesty that place scared the shit outta /br /"Yeah, it's what I do", he muttered and stormed inside./p  
p style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"As a looming Poison lurked inside the diner, Kobra Kid met him with a heavy frown on his face. "What's everyone doing here? I thought you were kickin' 'em out?"br /br /Poison turned away and grumbled something inaudible with a small 'hmph'. Kobra threw his hands up slightly looking over the two girls. Well, at least his brother was helping people. There was a bright side to this /br /Razor was smiling shyly when Kobra looked in her direction, casually talking to Jet. He seemed to be a really nice guy, but pretty quiet. "So, my parents moved us out here, when I was younger, right before the wars-" She paused. "Oh, god I don't shut up do I?" Her face flushed a few shades of red while Jet /br /"No, no it's fine, I like hearing how people ended up here." Jet softly insisted and motioned for her to keep going. br /br /Kobra looked over at Ghoul and Ink, who both seemed to be feeling better. They both had stripped themselves of their shirts and were comparing tattoos, muscle sizes, basically anything they could. Kobra shuddered to think of what would happen when they were out of sight. emDroppin' their pants and whipping 'em out./em He cringed at the thought. Considering Ghoul was quite the exhibitionist as is, having someone fuel the fire. Well, Kobra was fine with not seeing either of their junks, in this life or the /br /Revenge quietly headed into the diner, the last one in. Kobra shook his head and went to monitor some of the radio's waves. Just to keep an eye out for anything that would cause more of a pain for him. br /br /The sun was down by the time an emergency transmission came through. D was the one sending it out. Losing all color, Kobra stumbled over himself to get the guys. This was going to be bad. He found his brother sulking on his bed, smelling like whiskey and stale beer. He frowned as he shook him, the fucker was drunk! Groaning he ran to Jet's room banging on it. br /br /"Open the door!" he called "Urgent!" Doing the same to Ghoul's door, the three soon met in the old broom closet, which now housed their CB. br /br /"ZRRRRRT" The radio whined as the message played on repeat, D's husky tone rasping out. "Fabulous Four, you have company, a large number of B-V's in your area. Be on your guard." The machine let out a whine, letting out a skipping noise before playing the message again. br /br /Kobra looked up at the rest of the team, this was bad. He swallowed thickly and looked at Jet, "Poison's drunk, we need to enforce our defenses and get prepared for a firefight." His head snapped to Ghoul, "get whatever weapons we have and meet me outside."br /br /Jet nodded running out to get everyone sleeping in the booths. "Get under the tables, stay low; I'm getting you guys a way out of here." br /br /Ghoul on the other hand ran straight to his room. He'd been fiddling with a few guns and managed to get most of them in working states. Shoving each gun into his holsters, he checked on the bombs he'd been setting up. He frowned; most of them were duds and couldn't do much. Only a handful would detonate for sure, the rest? Well, it was a 50/50 shot, and hell he'd take any shot he could. br /br /Carrying the weapons to the back of the diner he laid them out. He tried to keep his body as close to the ground as possible. He couldn't risk them being spotted before they had a chance to get ready for a /br /Kobra had the hardest job of the three; he was trying to sober up his brother. Throwing the old water they'd saved for cleaning use, on Poison's head to wake him. Then dodging the flailing attack of his brother's form, he sighed. Heading to make coffee with the safest water and give it to him. If they were down a man they'd all go down for sure. br /br /Jet jumped over the old boxes thrown around the diner by Ghoul. He got onto the CB and called out for urgent transportation from D. His face fell when no one responded. Throwing the microphone down, he headed back to the /br /"There's a good chance we'll be under attack, Ink can you stand?" Jet /br /With a hiss Ink got to his feet and nodded, "It'll take more than a few of these motherfuckers to kill me." He /br /Jet turned to the women and frowned, "you two just, stay down, stay quiet and keep hidden." He didn't want their blood on his /br /Ink limped but followed Jet out back, getting a gun from Ghoul and hissing slightly. This pain was a bitch for him. ememGonna show them how we do it/em./em He smirked to himself and knelt down with /br /Kobra and Poison were coming out when the first shots flew. Eight pairs of headlights flicking onto their forms. Kobra slammed him and his brother's bodies down, narrowly avoiding a massive amount of shots right at their heads. There was no thinking at this point, just the need to survive. br /br /Poison weakly adjusted his mask and grabbed his gun; it was lower on power than he would have liked. But he could handle this shit. He had /br /Ghoul fired back at them by grabbing one of the mechanical bombs. He struggled to activate it. Hissing as it began to beep he threw it at the first car. All the pitiful thing managed to do was crack their windshield. But he had no time to even notice that. He grabbed both blasters and began rapid firing them at the oncoming threat. There was white all along the dark blue skyline. br /br /The air began to sizzle around them, shots fired from both sides. Kobra ran up to the oncoming round and began firing with one hand, in his other was a hunting knife. It wasn't as sharp as he liked so the cuts he imposed were deep but far from clean. He felt blood spatter his body as he dug it into one Draculoid's neck. An explosion of blood followed. Poison ran up behind him, pegging one Drac between the eyes before he could shoot his brother in the back. The blood spurted out into Poison's eyes. He roared out and took the chance to grab his brother's arm. Flinging Korba with the weight of his body as Kobra fired /br /Jet took long range this time, keeping his gun steady and calm as always. He focused his time on those popping out of the cars. He had shattered more than a few windshields, with a smooth motion he grabbed one of the bombs by Ghoul's feet and threw them toward the back. Within moments the battle was lit up by its detonation. Bodies' flying as a car was taken up, its parts flying all around hitting more than a couple of /br /The only one struggling was Ink. He'd been shot in the arms and felt a pocket knife dug into his right leg. With a snarl he charged at the agent he was dealing with. His gun has been kicked away and all he had was a small blade to defend himself with. The painful blows struck his body over and over. That fucker had to be wearing brass knuckles. Seeing Ink in peril, Ghoul darted over grabbing onto the drac's neck and choking him, using his entire weight he tugged at his head, until a sickening crack could be heard over the blasts. Within an instant of that crack, Ghoul had turned firing both blasters at the same time, toward the next round of Dracs coming at them. A smirk pulled at his lips. emBring it!/em He ran at them and let out a battle cry, head-butting one in the crotch, before he was /br /The kick sent Ghoul flying into Kobra, who stumbled and felt a sharp blade slice his hand. His own blood poured down his arm, he punched the offending Drac in the jaw as hard as he could, stumbling back a few steps. emShit, I can't fire!/em In desperation he ran to his brother, keeping his fists to his chest. Their backs together, he was punching and kicking at any form of white that came within three feet of them. While Poison focused on beating one Drac's head to a bloody pulp with the back of his gun. A sharp punch smashed into Poison's jaw. He snarled as his head whipped back, spitting out blood and what felt like a tooth. He shot him right between the /br /Each round of Dracs came, and the Fabulous Four took more damage with each one. Jet felt like he'd was weighed down. This was their territory and they had to defend it. After much effort the last drac had fallen and he turned to his allies panting heavily. He managed to get over to Poison who was using his bandana to patch up his brother's hand. Ghoul was joining them a frown on his features. He had a cigarette hanging from his lips, his usual after battle plan. br /br /Jet frowned noticing Ink on the ground. He wasn't moving, shaking his head he turned to Poison, they needed their leader /br /"We need to get out of here" Poison hissed out he was sure that the bones in his left wrist were fractured. "Just until it calm down and Bli is off our trail, only bring what you have to."br /br /"And the girls?" Ghoul muttered, clearly avoiding staring at Ink's /br /"I said what you have to." Poison repeated and limped inside to get anything that could put their identities at risk and headed out back to burn it. He wasn't fully sober but he'd have to make due for /br /Grabbing his things Kobra did his best not to flex his hand. He headed to check on the girls in the front room "We need to move" He whispered weakly, clearly in /br /Razor came forward first and looked at his hand, taking it despite his hiss of pain and looking at it. "It's nothing permanent, you'll be fine" She whisperedbr /br /Kobra smiled at her weakly, "I know, I'm a doctor," he appreciated her concern /br /She blinked and blushed, "oh, gracious, I didn't mean to butt in or anything!" She was always nervous about upsetting someone. br /br /He shook his head and smiled again before heading to check his room for anything else he'd need. Grabbing his flask from the table he let out a small hiss of pain and retracted it. No using that hand for a while. He bumped into Ghoul in the hallway who was silent. Nodding to him, Kobra headed to put his things in the TransAm and managed to slip in the front. Ghoul joined him soon after his bag full, mainly of gadgets and various mechanical works. Running a hand through his hair, Ghoul winced weakly he didn't as much as look at /br /The girls joined in the back of the car in silence. Both clutched their bags in their laps and didn't so much as make eye contact with anyone. They couldn't Razor was nervous looking at her feet a frown on her lips. While Revenge stared in horror at the corpses, she felt like she was going to vomit. emThey...they killed all these people.../embr /br /The car sped off heading toward the east, Poison's tired eyes on the horizon; he had to get them out of here, if he could manage that. Well then he could pass out as long as his heart desired. The looming of pollution hung blocking the stars view; it seemed to be getting thicker as they headed further out into the Zones. It was getting so bad, Kobra had to put on his helmet and stick his head out the window, eyes squinting to try to make out any landmarks, to help them get to their /br /The drive was hellish for the brother's. Jet on the other hand took it upon himself to get some much needed rest, slumped over Ghoul and snoring loudly. Ghoul on the other hand was very unlike himself, quietly staring out the window and frowning. He couldn't sleep if he wanted to with this big lug on him. Plus his ears were ringing, from Jet's booming /br /Sighing to himself, Ghoul let his eyes close for a moment, and before he knew it, his entire body was thrown forward into Kobra's seat. Swearing to himself slightly he pushed Jet off. emGoddamit!/em He shook his head, emthat fucker is heavy!/em Managing to get to his feet, he squeezed past Kobra's seat to get out early. Kobra sleepily blinked and frowned at Ghoul, but in all honesty he wasn't in the mood to bitch at him. He was fucking /br /Poison had pulled up to an old condemned looking warehouse. The windows were cracked and the door was hanging off the hinges. He put his hand up halting the girls and headed to slip past the fence with Ghoul. Ghoul took right and Poison took left, doing the quickest perimeter check of their lives. The grounds seemed clear, so they headed inside, trying to give the all clear. br /br /By some stream of luck they were able to do just that. The remaining four rushing past the weak fence to get inside. All of them looked tired and beaten, and the girls looked uneasy and plain scared. Jet smiled warmly trying to lay bedding down for Razor. Revenge just curled up in a corner and closed her eyes tightly. She felt like the odd person out, ememmaybe I should just take off, they won't notice if I go. Hell, they don't even want me here/em./em She sighed to herself and managed to fall into a troubled /br /Poison sighed weakly and looked around at everyone, Jet laid close to razor and Kobra had passed out near the door way. He shrugged his jacket off and stretched his sore muscles but frowned seeing Revenge shivering in the corner. He sighed to himself shaking his head, and grabbed his cigarettes out of his jacket pocked before draping the cloth over her shoulders. br /br /Ghoul blinked and frowned at the action, silently following him outside to join him for a cigarette. The two stared out silently, Poison's eyes falling lower and lower with each puff. Before long Ghoul had to help him to get back inside, Poison's arm and most of his torso slung over Ghoul's body. He laid him down and sighed to himself shaking his head. Before retreating to his corner to rest up, sometimes the shit they got into, well it just wasn't worth it to /br /Kobra was the last to wake this time, he felt like total shit as he rose up. His hand moved to his head, but smacked his helmet. He groaned as he tugged it off, his skin red from the pressure all night, he felt a little bit dizzy even. His team was curled around their coffee pot with a frown, they had to use their own water supply to make it, but fuck, they needed /br /Ghoul had dibs on the first up, his mug was chipped and had a big crack in it but who the fuck cared, it was fuckin' coffee! He was downing his as Poison filled his own mug, a weak dribble coming from the bottom; he did his best to finish it, before it all leaked out. Jet smiled and moved to bring his mug to Razor, he really liked this girl, she was nice and smart, and just, unlike any other girl he'd met before. br /br /Her eyes sleepily opened and she smiled, "hey" she yawned and sat up with a small yawn taking the mug from /br /He grinned and sat down with her, leaning back on his hands, "hey yourself." he beamed at her with a small /br /She looked around; the warehouse was disgusting in the light from the sunrise. There were rat corpses and spider webs all over, she swallowed and looked back to him. "Thank you," She smiled and motioned the mug up, "I really appreciate this."br /br /"It's nothing" he sighed and smiled, "sorry about last night- I mean yeah, it happens out here I guess." he sighed and shook his head, "It must've scared the shit outta ya." He sighed and looked at her tiredly. br /br /She shook her head, "it's no biggie, I've seen worse." She tried to smile at him but faltered and /br /"Hey don't put on a strong face for me," he sighed, "being anxious, it's okay out here, hell this is one of the only places you're allowed to feel. So, why abuse that?"br /br /Razor smiled for real this time and nodded, "you have a point there.' She chuckled to herself and drank the coffee down. "Thank you again" she sighed dreamily and handed the mug /br /He nodded with another smile and headed to get what little was left after Kobra and drink it himself. He was used to moving around anyway, so this change was nothing for him. But he felt for Razor, he just had this need to make sure she was okay. He inhaled sharply and sighed looking at his dirty /br /Revenge woke up and sat up, her body paining in protest. Poison's jacket fell off her shoulders and she frowned picking it up. She held it for a moment and blinked, before standing and heading to give it to him. "Thanks." She /br /Poison looked over and blinked with a small nod, "no problem."br /br /She managed a weak smile at him and headed outside her hands checking her pockets for her cigarettes. She pulled a carton out and frowned, she had a half smoked one left. Muttering to herself, she lit it up and looked down throwing the box aside. No use left in /br /Poison headed outside himself and blinked seeing her smoking a miserable little stub of a cigarette. His fingers ran along his own carton, he knew he only had about 5 left, but he swallowed and lit two up passing one as hers went out. He arched a brow at her when she hesitated in taking it, and nodded when she did, exhaling smoke weakly. "Well then." He /br /She sighed, "Listen I can get out of here" she /br /He blinked and looked at her, "what are you stupid? You should stay."br /br /She sighed, "i know you just didn't wanna feel like guilty because of me-"br /br /"Guilt?! What?!"br /br /"But I'm a big girl and i can take care of myself." She frowned at / /p 


	6. Betrayal of the Heart

p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He paused and frowned weakly trying to think of what to say next, "I want to make sure you're safe, okay?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I want you here." It was a bit forced, but there was a grain of truth in /br /Revenge blinked and frowned arching a brow at him and swallowed, "I-i...okay." she sighed out and quickly turned away, he wanted her here? She didn't know how to feel about /br /With a weak nod, Poison threw his jacket on the ground and sighed weakly. emWhat am I doing, getting attached gets you killed./em Swallowing thickly he headed to join Ghoul, who was watching him with a shocked look on his face, it fell into a /br /"The fuck is going on with you?" He /br /Poison looked up weakly and shook his head, he didn't know. He honestly didn't, "I don't wanna have to deal with finding someplace to drop her off." He lied smoothly and Ghoul frowned /br /That was a crock of shit if he'd ever heard one. With an exasperated sigh he threw his hands up, it was time to cause some fun out here. Moving behind Kobra he quickly jumped on his back and tried to ride him like a /br /Kobra flailed around and tried to throw Ghoul off, "What the fuck man?!"br /br /"Giddy up!" Ghoul cried gleefully and snickered as Kobra bucked around. He felt like he was riding a bull here, and he sure as hell wouldn't /br /"You dick!" Kobra whined and threw Ghoul onto the ground, he stood and gave him a stern look. Ghoul was too busy laughing to notice the anger, he was just having fun!br /br /Straightening himself out, Kobra sighed and shook his head, well wasn't this all good and disgusting. He dusted himself off focusing on a few patches of dirt that wouldn't seem to wipe off. His lips twisted and he muttered something to himself that sounded a lot like, 'rotten banana splits', causing Ghoul to howl with fits of /br /Jet heard Ghoul's mischievous noises and glanced over smiling weakly, "They're a bit, different to live with, that's for sure." He chuckled and shook his head weakly, this was alright with him, "So, do you like being a medic?"br /br /Razor smiled sweetly, "I mean, you learn a lot and get to help people, if I do say so myself, it's the best job there is!" She smiled /br /Jet chuckled and shook his head, "at least you're passionate about it!" br /br /"Yeah, well even after the world ends you have to love life, or else what are we fighting for?"br /br /Jet nodded and leaned back, "Exactly, I think a lot of people want to complain about what life is like out here and forget why we do it sometimes. As much as I hate to say it. I've run into runners who, well I don't understand why they run. They complain and whine, and say they want the benefits of the city, and well it just isn't that helpful to be honest."br /br /Razor nodded, "Sometimes it's more about quality than quantity." br /br /Jet nodded "that's why to this day I swear we can win this; we have more heart in one zone, than all of BLi."br /br /She shot him a sweet sad smile, and nodded. That was the goal right? Win the war and fix the world, but...Was it really that simple?br /br /Jet smiled at her a bit bigger, "I mean, it'll take a while to heal from all of this, but we have to keep movin' it forward, you know what I mean crash queen?" He arched a brow at /br /She smiled and nodded running her hand along the ripped denim of her jeans, "you seem so sure of this, like it has to come true."br /br /"It will, because we'll make it happen, that's the only way you can get anything done out here. Or even in life, if you sit around and whine all day, everything stays the same, it takes action."br /br /She paused for a moment, before nodding. "Doesn't that make things harder on you? I mean you guys are practically doing this on your own..."br /br /Chuckling he shook his head; "life isn't fair though now is it? We believe in what's right, and we can't count that someone else would do the same thing. No one wants to face facts or accept responsibility for their actions, so if it's stuck on us. Well, we'll survive."br /br /She smiled a bit bigger at him, "that's a noble thing to do, you have such faith. I'll be pulling for you guys." He nodded in thanks and blushed a bit, this was a good thing right? He was making a good impression and that wasn't always the easiest thing with Ghoul laughing on his back like a baby with a /br /Sighing weakly Jet rubbed his forehead before smiling back, this was nice. He hadn't felt like this in a long time and honestly it was a break aspired for. Razor's smile fell slightly and she looked at her hands, she seemed, well nervous. emI bet I could make her smile,/em he rose up and headed outside for a moment. A few minutes later he came back in with a small lizard, smiling softly he extended it to /br /She blinked in shock but took the small creature cradling it. "What a cutie." She cooed to it and laughed letting it climb all over /br /He beamed seeing her smile. Yeah, he really did like having her /br /Ghoul was watching the two with raised brows, a smirk growing on his face. emOhohoh, this is perfect./em His lips grew into a mischievous smirk as he snuck up on Jet and pushed him into Razor. br /br /Jet stumbled and managed to steady himself, his face flush. "I-i.." He stammered and pulled back, coughing weakly before kicking the laughing demon. emDamn him./embr /br /Revenge watched Jet and Ghoul slightly confused and blinked when Poison came over. He looked, well different. More unsure of himself, certainly not the cocky leader who laughed at her the day they /br /He coughed and ran a hand through his hair. "So, what brings you out here- I mean, I know why you're HERE, but the Zones, yeah?" Groaning internally at his stammered words, Poison pulled himself /br /She blinked and looked down, "Oh you know," she coughed. "Just life, I suppose?" br /br /Poison nodded and slowly sat down with her. His heart was thudding in his chest. This was all good and tense. What could possibly go wrong next? He looked her up and down weakly, trying to figure her out./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Revenge paused again before sighing. "I guess the reason I'm here is a series of bad events." She paused, trying to gauge his reaction. He just stared waiting for her to go on. "I've been on my own for a while, I don't know I got mixed up with some bad people." She sighed and leaned against a wall, casually banging her head. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Frowning, he shook his head. "Don't do that. Everyone makes mistakes."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She sighed again. "Well, these were some real bad guys." She shifted her knees to her chest and swallowed. "Like the kind who abandon you on the side of the road for not wanting to fuck some lowlife." Noticing his shock, she shook her head. "Yeah, I was. I mean, I don't anymore. I said I was dumb, right?" she sputtered out and grimaced./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well I mean, I wasn't expecting-" Poison mumbled and shook his head. "Just go on."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She sighed. "I mean, it was legal. I was in Nevada." Because that reasoning made it so much better. "Anyway, they kicked me out and left me out here. So I started working as a waitress and when that didn't give me cash...well, I started dancing again." She leaned back, stopping the occasional bang on the wall. "Then I met you so, yeah, here we are."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He nodded to her and sighed. "And here we are. I mean at least it was us, and not one of those scumbag Dracs."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She blinked at his words and paused, opening her mouth to say something, then closing it. "I keep hearing you say that, what is it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He blinked at her and arched a brow. "What, a Drac? You're shitting me, right? You know, a Draculoid?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Revenge frowned and shook her head. "Yeah, I keep hearing that, is it like an animal?" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison let out a sarcastic bitter laugh. "That's not funny." His face grew serious. Was this girl seriously that out of the loop?/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She frowned. "I'm not joking, what is it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison's face lost a shade of color. "They're employed by Better Living. We're fighting them."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Okay, lost again, what the fuck is Better Living?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I-I, are you an idiot? You're telling me you don't know about the end of the world." He couldn't help the venom in his voice. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Wait, what are you talking about?" Her eyes grew wide./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison groaned. "The world went to war. And there were fires all over America. Before anyone could stop it, civilization crashed? Sound familiar?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She frowned and shook her head. "I-I...when was this?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Jesus fuckin' Christ, for the last four years, woman!" He sighed and saw the look on his face. It mirrored his own when he was told about the attacks. He stiffly reached out to touch her shoulder. "Hey, it's a lot but..." His expression softened. "It's life out here."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She stared at his hand; she was convinced he was a madman. They all were, they had to be! But she couldn't bring herself to pull away. The fact was, she believed him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He sighed and knelt down to her level. "Basically, this company came along, and they acted like they were gonna fix shit. Well, they lied. Tried to control the masses and overall became total assholes." His eyes grew fiery as he recalled it. "And they kicked out anyone who wasn't perfect, crammed pills down everyone's throats to fix 'em. Then sent anyone not up to par out here."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Now, most of us out 'ere. Well, we're fighting to bring 'em down. We want to find something that, that's real. Not just a lie those fuckers tell us." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "There's a lot to it, but I won't overload you. We're the Killjoys and we'll be fightin' till the world ends again." He let out another bitter laugh; he sounded like some bad TV show./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She stared down. "So this is like, real life? Not a joke." Her voice was shaky and disconnected. She didn't even know how to process this./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison nodded weakly, his hand resting on her shoulder. "It's a lot. I know, but if you don't face reality out here, well, you belong in the city." He kept his hand there for a moment longer and retracted his hand with a cough. "Just, make sure you stay inside and we'll make sure you're safe."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She nodded and hugged her knees, resting her face on her knees for a moment. Her mind was racing with all these thoughts. How could this be real? She swallowed and sat up, staring at nothing in particular. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison turned to walk away and bumped straight into Ghoul. Ghoul frowned and grabbed Poison, led him outside, and glared. "What the fuck are you thinking?" He had to squint from the sun beating on them./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""She didn't know about the fuckin' war, man!" Poison hissed, exasperated. "I was just tellin' her!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah, but you didn't have to be holdin' onto her! No skirts, man! You know the rules."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Christ! I wasn't doin' shit! I'm not trying to marry the chick! I was just explaining what a Drac is!" Poison jerked out of Ghoul's grip./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ghoul frowned. "I don't trust her. There's no way she couldn't know about all of this! I bet she's a Better Living spy, or an exterminator!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""An exterminator? Really?" Poison rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's why she didn't kill us while we slept."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, it may be part of her plan! Get us off guard and learn our secrets!" Ghoul insisted, standing on his tiptoes for emphasis./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison shook his head. "Like what? Mr. Bunbun?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ghoul's face twisted and he snarled. "Shut up, Poison! This is serious! I don't trust her!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison sighed. "I'm not going into this blind, man. I'm aware of these risks, and I'm not gonna let anyone get hurt. And I ain't gonna be mackin' on her. Okay?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ghoul frowned, still unconvinced. "Just remember what happened to your brother."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison frowned, glaring at him. "Don't you dare get on me about that," he snapped. "You know I was against her from the start. I said it was stupid and he was gonna get hurt. But he sure as hell didn't listen to me!" This clearly set Poison off./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Finally Ghoul retracted, his hands slightly raised. "I just don't wanna see the same shit happen to you. I'm trying to look out for you." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Sighing, Poison nodded. "I know you are man, just- don't bring her up, okay?" He ran a hand through his greasy locks. "I'm still pissed about it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I can tell, you fuckin' diva." Ghoul snorted and rolled his eyes until Poison smacked him upside the head. He shot Poison a look. "I was tellin' the truth." A big smirk pulled at his lips as Poison stormed off. He totally won that one./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kobra blinked, seeing his brother return. He shook his head and went over some maps from last night. He was trying to figure out their best plan of attack. They'd been playing defense for far too long and they needed to step up. Maybe it was making them go soft, that would explain last night. Stroking his strong chin, he sighed and pulled a different map out. This one covered the entirety of the Zones. He checked the confirmed Better Living stations. There was one a few hours from here. They could launch a raid and snag their supplies./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"At the same time, even that could compromise their current location. They couldn't hide out on their territory. It'd be crawling with Dracs for days. He shifted slightly and checked some of Poison's nearly unreadable scrawl. There was a medical tent: the good news was that there'd be very little guard. The bad news was that it wouldn't have as many resources as a storage unit. There'd be a bigger risk of hurting an ally as well. Some of D's agents were working under Better Living. He knew they usually got stuck with Zone jobs, and it was hard to tell friend from foe when they were covered in white. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Moving to a second map, he focused on the hot-spots along this Zone. There hadn't been a raid here in nearly two weeks. That was dangerous; they were due for one. Swallowing, Kobra took a big drink out of his flask. This seemed like a hopeless situation. Either they stayed, took defense, and risked running out of supplies. Or left and faced having to find a new base. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Looking up, he realized Poison was looming above him. "Well, in short, we're fucked."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Like that's new!" Ghoul chimed in as he headed inside./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison frowned and knelt down with him. "Then fix it." He ran his hands along the edges of the map, doing his best to smooth it out. "What are our options?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Raid a medi tent, or wait here and defend." Kobra chewed the inside of his cheek./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison smacked his shoulder slightly. "Don't do that, you'll make yourself bleed." His tone was gruff, tired. Wincing slightly as he felt pressure on his wrist, Kobra shook his head. "We in shape for this raid?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Looking around, Kobra frowned deeper. He was still pretty sore from the night before. His hands weren't at full dexterity. But they could fire, Ghoul seemed as hyped up as normal, and Jet looked ready to flirt. That meant he could fight. "I'd say yes." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison nodded. "Someone has to stay behind and keep an eye out here. We should be able to execute this with one behind." Beginning to mutter under his breath, Poison slipped into his own world./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kobra swallowed. "I'm probably the slowest on the draw." He felt weird admitting it. "I can clean up around here and try to get some defense up?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison frowned at the thought; he didn't particularly like the idea of leaving his brother here. But after a moment, he nodded. He wanted this to go smoothly. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Ghoul, Jet, gear up," he growled and grabbed his blaster, checking it over. Ghoul had replaced the cartridge, so he now had full power on it. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet jumped up and nodded to Razor before heading to the Trans. He took the front seat with a smirk, knowing Ghoul would whine about it. He slammed his blaster until it was revving up; he never knew when they'd have a fight on wheels. He nodded when Ghoul climbed into the backseat. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison took off to the sands. His sunglasses sparkled, the sun hitting him in the face from the moon-roof. Honestly, there was nothing like this. Pedal to the metal, the hot wind in your face. All they needed was a little Mad Gear and fuck, life was good. A smile tugged at his lips, and he was relaxed. It was his favorite way to lose himself./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"-/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"It was late by the time the three returned. Razor was talking to Kobra about the wounds on his wrist, and she spent time trying to help him wrap it up. They laughed and sat on the bedding swapping medical stories, until Kobra spun in his seat, turning to face the approaching three. With a wave and relaxed smile, Kobra welcomed them back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"As predicted, the run didn't bring much, but they did manage quite a few medical supplies, along with plenty of coffee and a few cans of food. It took them a few trips to bring everything inside, but it was well worth it. Ghoul collapsed onto the ground panting. It looked like his hair was leaking, sweat pouring down his entire body. He wanted nothing more than to jump into Better Living's water supply and never come back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet rolled his eyes at Ghoul's form before smiling and bringing a few cans of food to Razor. She beamed and took them. "Thank you again." She laughed and nodded. Her smile seemed to light up the room./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Revenge glanced up when everyone came inside and weakly went to stand by. She didn't help, but no one asked. She shrugged and retreated to the corner where she slept the night before. She didn't see much point in getting in the way./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Running a hand through his hair, Ghoul shook his head, dust flying around. "Coffee!" He beamed at everyone and hugged his tin of precious beans. He rocked it back and forth as if it were an infant, electing a giggle from Razor./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet smiled and leaned back. Well, this was the life. He hadn't enjoyed downtime this much in so long. He sighed dreamily and looked around; this was the life of a Killjoy. And he loved every minute of it. Life seemed to be heading back to normal. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"After the long run, the group seemed to be nestling into sleep. Kobra was a bit on edge and opted to look out. He swallowed and went outside, doing his best to tinker with his bike despite his wrapped-up hands. At least it was something to do. emCome on baby, purr for me./em He ran his hands along the metal of the bike. She'd seen better days. This is what he got for keeping her in the back of the Trans. emYou're the shiniest bike out here, you gotta stick around.../em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The sun's rays hit the warehouse, reflecting onto the faces of the sleeping ones. Revenge batted at them and rolled over, falling onto Poison's sleeping form. He jumped up, alarmed, and grabbed his gun, causing the two to bump heads. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Ow..." Revenge rubbed her head and blinked at him sleepily. It seemed everyone else was peacefully unaware of their commotion./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Sorry," Poison muttered and looked down at his gun, putting it back in its holster. "I thought you were-" He broke off. "I'm sorry." He sighed, feeling unlike himself again./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""No biggie," she whispered and turned away from him, trying to get her hair untangled from her piercings. Poison blinked and moved to help her, awkwardly chuckling when their hands brushed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I-" He cleared his throat. "Would you like to, I dunno, go hang out today?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She gave him a careful look and managed a weak chuckle. "Like a date?" She arched her brow./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, not so much, I mean, just get to know each other?" he stammered out, very unlike the smooth-talking leader he normally was. He cleared his throat again and shook his head. "I mean, if you're gonna be sticking around for a bit, yeah."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She twisted her lips and nodded with a small smile. "I think I'd like that," she whispered and let out a small giggle./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah?" He smirked and ran a hand through his hair. "Well, good." He stood and extended his hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She smiled and took it, heading with him outside, keeping their hands close, but not quite holding each other. Their fingers and knuckles would occasionally brush each other, sending a quick jolt down Revenge's spine. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"They found a decent sized rock not far from the warehouse. He knelt on it, and she sat with her back to it and looked up at him softly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""So," he inhaled, "Here we are."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yup." She half-smiled up at him and leaned back further./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He chuckled. "So how did you end up in Nevada anyway?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She shrugged. "Just kinda drifted around, ya know?" She sighed and stretched out, relaxing a bit./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, usually when people drift they're searchin' for somethin'." Poison scratched at his chin and looked her up and down. "What were you lookin' for?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She chewed the inside of her lip and sighed. emWhat do I got to lose?/em "Well, I had a- I like to get high." She shrugged/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He arched a brow slightly. "What kind of high we talkin'?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She shook her head. "You know, high-high." She grimaced slightly, afraid of his reaction./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I think we all have a point in our lives like that, eh?" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She blinked and slowly relaxed again. "You into shooting up?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He blinked and shook his head. "No, but I've done my fair share of stupid shit. Doin' that out here, well, you'd get yourself killed before ya knew it." He sighed. "Do ya still do it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She frowned and rubbed her arm. "I mean- not recently."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""And how long is recently?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Since you know, those attacks?" she offered. She wasn't exactly ashamed of it, but she didn't need to be lectured like a child./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He put his hands behind his head. "Well, first things first, you're stopping now."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""What?!" she snapped, clearly not expecting this to turn this way. "Like hell I am!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, then you can find a new shelter." He smirked, knowing he had the upper hand. "We don't tolerate that shit here, no exceptions."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She opened her mouth and looked away, a string of colorful swears passing her lips. This was total bullshit!/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He sighed and looked at her. "If you stay with us, you're family, and family doesn't let you destroy yourself." He frowned at her heavily./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She winced at the word and sighed. "O-okay, fine." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""What? Let me guess your family was horrible and killed by Better Li-"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""No, not even close," she mumbled./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He arched a brow. So many times he had heard the same story, the same cry of vengeance. "What happened, then?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""My parents were awesome." She managed a weak smile and it fell. "I just lost touch once I left, just wasn't enough."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He sighed and patted her back. This was still awkward for him. "Hey, I'm sure you were more than enough. That's the job of parents, to love their kids."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She smiled at him and nodded weakly. "Maybe you're right." She sighed and leaned back./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He smirked at her. "Of course I am, I'm Party Poison."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She rolled her eyes. "Like that's such a big deal."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""It is, after all I am at the top of Better Living's Most Wanted."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She laughed. "You? But you're a big old dork!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He rolled his eyes, holding his smirk. "I take offense to that."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She laughed at him again and smirked back. "So what? You're hot shit?" she offered./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He nodded and leaned a bit closer. "Fuck yeah I am."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She inched closer, feeling his fingertips trace along the contour of her face, about to kiss, when the door to the warehouse flew open, a furious looking Ghoul there./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Poison?! What the fuck!" he snapped, Revenge quickly ducking back and running into the warehouse. This was one she wanted to avoid./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""What now, Ghoul?" Poison sighed, a little bit more than annoyed at the fact that Ghoul had interrupted him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""You said you weren't going to do this! I wake up and find you missing and here you are about to fuck that- that thing!" he snapped./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""First off, I wasn't going to fuck her, secondly, she's actually really cool!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He rolled his eyes. "She's just some stupid bimbo trying to chain you down, fucking fangirls." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison frowned. "She knows nothing about this shit, just give her a break!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I won't! She's going to take you away from us!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""No! Your fucking attitude is what's putting me off here!" he snarled./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""She's changed you! It hasn't even taken two months! You woulda never snapped at me before!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I woulda, when you're being an emidiot/em like you are now!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ghoul snarled back, "Stop, Poison, just don't let yourself become like this!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Poison rolled his eyes. "I'm not becoming like anything!" he growled and shook his head. "I'm done talking about this with you, talk to me again when you grow up!" he snapped and headed into the warehouse, fuming. He headed straight for the coffee pot to make some; that would calm him down or intensify his rage. Either way he wouldn't have to deal with it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet blinked at Poison but shrugged it off; he wasn't the fucking parent here. He had his own life, wants, and desires. He moved to sit by Razor and smiled. "So once things get settled down, I think we should like, get dinner."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor blinked, clearly shocked, and pulled back. "O-oh my god, what?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He blinked. "Well, I have a lot of fun with you and I dunno, I thought it'd be cool if we went out sometime?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor shook her head, eyes still wide. "Oh my God, Jet, I am so sorry, I thought you knew!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Knew what?" Now he was just getting confused./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I'm a lesbian! I have a girlfriend!" Her hand clamped over her mouth, clearly stunned./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet's eyes grew wide and his face grew red in embarrassment. "O-oh...I mean I didn't, I'm sorry, I-" He didn't know what to say./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""I-I thought I told you" She awkwardly put her hand on his shoulder. "I-I'm sorry."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He shrugged her off slightly but nodded, disappointed. "It's fine, it was my fault for assuming." He managed a smile. "Really, I'll be fine," he sighed out weakly. He patted her shoulder and rose up, feeling like he had just made the biggest ass of himself. He put his face in his hands and pulled them back with a forced smile before going to the maps to plan out their next route./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor frowned as she watched him. She felt bad. She bit her lip and moved to get some coffee for him. She was trying here. She never meant to lead him on!/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"He blinked and looked at her, taking it. He was let down, sure, but at least they could be friends. He gave her a smile and nodded. "Thanks, I could use it," he sighed weakly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She nodded and sat with him. "For sure."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""So, you got a girlfriend?" He arched a brow. "Tell me about her."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah, her name is, uh, Lethal Lolita, or uh, I call her Loli, and she works at a diner, makes the best food you could think of." She smiled widely at him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Oh yeah? Sounds awesome." He smiled./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""She is." Razor beamed at him. "She's adorable, just this little ball of pink sunshine. She can make everyone smile, I swear it." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Seems fitting for you." He nodded./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"She smiled and nodded "She helped me a lot when my mother was still alive, so I feel like, I owe her a lot."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Oh?" He looked at her./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor looked down. "Well, mom died in that first raid, they didn't hurt her, but the shock- her heart gave out." She swallowed thickly. "Before that my mom was really really sick, and I had to take care of her, so I'd get dinner at the diner, and Loli would always give me leftovers and try to give me discounts. She's really helped me out." She smiled sadly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""You miss your mom?" He was worried he was probing too deeply./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor paused and sadly smiled. "But it was just her time, she'd been fighting for so long. I could tell she was getting tired, I couldn't ask any more than that." She sighed./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Jet nodded and patted her shoulder. "I think everyone goes through that out here. I know I did," he mumbled weakly. "I miss my folks a lot, but I'm glad they don't have to live in this." /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor blinked. "Did you all-?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah," Jet cut her off and sighed. "It sucks really bad," he admitted and looked at his hands. "Sometimes I wish I could turn back time, but gotta live for today." He smiled at her again. This time it was sad, aged almost. He had been through more than he wanted to ever admit./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Razor smiled weakly and wrapped her arms around him, giving him a tight squeeze. He held onto her and closed his eyes, so tired of being strong. He just needed this moment. Just a second to lose himself and feel okay./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"The warehouse seemed to quiet down as Jet fell into Razor's lap. He had felt detached for so long. He just needed someone to notice. Kobra coughed and headed outside, cigarette in hand. He lit up shakily and closed his eyes. He couldn't help but think of her. The way her blue eyes would light up when she smiled, or how her nose would crinkle when he made a bad joke. He sighed and took a deep breath. These memories were toxic; she was long gone by now. The further away the better. He didn't have to worry about her being safe anymore. He wasn't a /br /Poison soon came out to join him and looked his brother up and down. He looked a mess. He patted his shoulder and nodded weakly, lighting up himself. He sighed the smoke out and examined his cigarette. "You thinking about her?"br /br /Kobra frowned and glanced over. "Why ask? You know the answer."br /br /Poison frowned. The only thing he liked less than that woman was his brother hurting. "I mean, you can talk to me if you need to."br /br /"Why? You hated her."br /br /"Because I'm still your brother, and I love you more than I hate her."br /br /Kobra sighed. "Of course I miss her, I mean love- loved her." He /br /"Loved?"br /br /"Well, I can't let myself love her anymore." br /br /"I'm sorry." Poison really meant /br /"It's just, it hurts too much to wonder." Kobra sighed, hiding his /br /"I think there's nothing wrong with loving someone, even if you have to let them go." Poison leaned against the wall. "It's what keeps 'em alive."br /br /Kobra nodded and snuffed out his cigarette. He tried not to smoke too many of them, it was so bad. But it was better than most pills could do. "Thanks, man." He sighed and ran a hand through his locks. "I appreciate you just, being here." He smiled for a moment before heading inside, letting it /br /Poison sighed and inhaled again. Was this going to be his fate if he let that chick in? Sighing to himself, he headed to the Trans. He just needed to escape and think about /br /-br /br /When Poison didn't return within the hour, the entire warehouse was put on alert. The Trans was gone, and that could be really good or really bad. No real middle ground here. Kobra was pacing, afraid something he said had set Poison /br /A knock came at the warehouse and Jet darted to answer it. He blinked, seeing an unfamiliar face. Standing in front of him was a girl. She couldn't have been more than twenty. Her forest green eyes danced when she saw him and she broke into a huge /"Oh my God! Y-you're THE Jet Star! O-oh my freakin' gawd!" She let out a small squeal that made Jet take a few steps back. Her eyes were wide as /br /"Identify yourself," Jet snapped, harsher than he meant to, grabbing for his /She raised her hands and let out a nervous chuckle. "I-I'm sorry, I just I saw people were...ya know, makin' noise here, oh my God this is so shiny!" She /br /Jet blinked and lowered his hand. She seemed to be just some wave head. He sighed. "What's your name, kid?"br /br /"Kid?!" The girl pouted. "I'll have you know I am a totes awesome adult!" She beamed. "Name's OasisJet!" br /br /Jet arched a brow at the last part. "Listen, uh, OasisJet."br /br /"Call me Oasis." She giggled and blushed slightly, digging her toe into the /br /"Oasis, we're in the middle of an emergency, so can we move this along?"br /br /"Emergency?!" She blinked and peeked over his shoulder, seeing Fun Ghoul and Kobra Kid. "O-oh my God, is that THEM?!" She squealed and jumped up and down. "I can't believe this is happening to me!" She /br /Jet was a little less than amused. "Like I said, what do you need?"br /br /"Well, I was just wantin' to see if some runners needed some help out here! And I can see you guys do!" She smiled and motioned to the side of the building with her thumb. "I was gonna see if you'd be interested in crashin' at my place, got food and everything. Even got a ride out there."br /br /Jet blinked and frowned. As nice as that sounded, he couldn't really move the group. "As much as I'd like to take you up, we're on lockdown."br /br /Her face fell slightly and she looked down to her feet again, kicking at the sands. "W-well I could help?" She offered. "I don't know, I could like, help watch out?"br /Jet looked back and sighed. emWhat was one more?/em "Fine, just get in." He wasn't entirely thrilled, but it was /br /Oasis let out another squeal and ran inside, looking around. Kobra blinked and nodded weakly. He trusted Jet's judgment. Ghoul, however, had to say something. After all, he was incapable of keeping his mouth /br /"Aww, lookit the little girl." He cooed and snickered, thinking he was /Oasis giggled. "Like, holy shit, you're Fun Ghoul, you're supposed to be the best shot in the Zones!" She put her hands to her cheeks and grinned wide, ignoring the remark /br /Kobra rolled his eyes and swiftly punched his shoulder. Ghoul groaned and rubbed it. emDickface./em He stuck his tongue out slightly as Oasis darted over, looking at /"A-and you're Kobra Kid! Mr. Kung Fu master and all-around rocker!" She let out another squeal. She was like a kid in a candy store. "How did you learn those shiny moves?!" She /br /Kobra blinked. He wasn't used to having the fangirls. Normally they went for Poison or Ghoul. He smiled weakly at her. "Takes years of practice." He smiled a bit /She let out a squeal and beamed, not hearing the car pull up and the door being thrown open, framing Poison's figure as he came in. Oasis's eyes went wide. "And now the sassy leader!" She bit her lower /br /Poison blinked and looked at the new girl. "Who's- aw shit, we got another one?" He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. br /br /Jet sighed. "She offered us a place to stay, and honestly, I dunno how many more days I can take sleeping on this floor."br /br /Oasis nodded. "I got me a motel, it's fuckin' sweet!" br /br /Poison frowned and looked Jet over before nodding, sighing he shook his head. "Gear up, people."br /br /The warehouse was soon buzzing with everyone packing, loading up the Trans and Oasis' prized Cuda. The girls were all to ride together while the guys /br /"This is gonna be awesome!" Oasis beamed as everyone got in and she started up her baby. It let out a whine of protest, but started /br /Ghoul frowned, sinking into the back seat. "You know, we could just go and let the new chick watch 'em."br /br /Poison frowned. The look he shot through the rear-view mirror squashed any intention of that. Crossing his arms, Ghoul mumbled pouting slightly. Why go to the women, they were supposed to come to them!br /br /Poison followed the Cuda for about half an hour and pulled up at an old motel. It was falling apart and in worse shape than their diner. The windows were cracked and the door barely held on by a hinge. Poison frowned, getting out and heading to load everything into the building. Luckily, they tended to travel light and didn't need to carry much. He was greeted inside by some hissing cockroaches and an old rat. br /br /Once everyone was safely inside, Oasis smiled. "Just pick a room, I like to stay behind the front desk." She motioned to the little setup she had, plush stuffed panda and all. She realized it was out from her covers and darted to cover it. Of course, this drew more attention and she crawled under her blankets, her cheeks beet red. She didn't want to come out until everyone had a /br /The group split up. It wasn't a huge motel, but it was big enough so everyone got their own space, a welcome change from their travels. The real challenge was finding a room that wasn't rotting or moldy. Something that they wouldn't get sick from. Most of the rooms on the upper level were out, so they stuck to the lower level and working areas. Oasis's attachment to her spot made /br /Poison had finished unloading his bags with a sigh. He stretched his arms and shrugged his jacket off. His mind was racing with thoughts of what happened earlier, not just with his brother, but with Ghoul. Ghoul was just trying to look after him and maybe he had taken this too far. He sighed, feeling like the biggest douche on the planet. Rising up, he headed to go to the door, but blinked when there was a knock. Carefully he opened the door, slightly shocked to see /br /She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and stared at her feet, chewing on the inside of her lip. "Can I come in?" she /br /Poison nodded and stepped back, holding the door and letting her enter. She sat on his bed and looked over. He closed the door and moved to sit by /br /"So, earlier outside..." She sighed "We were going to-"br /"Well, I was going to, I don't know if you-"br /br /"I was too, and it just seemed like-" br /br /He took her arms and looked into her eyes, watching the words fade away. They both quickly moved close, effectively bumping their noses. She jumped back her hand clamped to her nose. Poison, on the other hand, started laughing and shaking his /br /"What's so funny?" She arched a brow, sniffing, praying she didn't get a bloody /"It seems fate is conspiring against us."br /br /"Fate, schmate," she mumbled and took his shirt in her hands, gently stroking the old /br /He carefully took her shoulders and stared into her eyes, with a smirk he pulled her into a kiss. It seemed to last only a moment, and it was the most innocent exchange she'd had by far. He smirked when he pulled back, her lips still parted, a furious blush on her /br /"That's what I like to see." He chuckled and nudged her chin to close her /br /Her lips twisted slightly and she looked away, her heart pounding. "D-don't get cocky," she whispered and rose /br /He leaned back on the bed holding his smirk. "Little late for that one, Crash Queen." He /br /She blinked and turned to him, her cheeks a deep pink. "Well, I-I, I better get back to my room before Ghoul comes in." Her voice was husky, breathless, as if she'd been making out with him, rather than giving him a peck on the /br /He chuckled and rolled onto his stomach. "You do that, then." He winked at her playfully as she stumbled away. He rolled onto his back, lacing his fingers and staring up. His smirk was still there. Aw hell yeah, he did /br /Once Razor was settled, she headed downstairs to try to find Oasis. She smiled, seeing her curled up, a cigarette loosely hanging from her lips. "Hey there!" She smiled. "We were never really properly introduced, I'm Razor Pulse." She extended her /br /Oasis smiled and took it. "OasisJet." She grinned /br /"By any chance, do you have a working radio?" br /br /Oasis blinked at the question and beamed. "Of course I do!" She laughed and led Razor to the back room. An old CB radio hung /br /Razor nodded in thanks and headed to try to get on the right waves. "Loli?" she called out when she was sure she was on the right /br /"Hello?" the chipper voiced replied back from the other line. She was more than happy by the sounds of it. "You've got Loli. Whatcha need?"br /br /"Hey honey, how are you?" She smiled. It must have been a month since they last talkedbr /"Razor?!" she gasped. Her voice increased at least three pitches. "I'm great. Everything is great now! How are you? Where are you? Is everything okay?" Loli was speaking fast and wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. She was too /br /"I can't tell you, I'm sorry," she whispered and closed her eyes. "But I'm safe, there was a raid, Momma died, I miss you so much." She sighed again. "I love you, baby doll."br /br /There was a long and heavy silence, then the sound of the radio hitting the floor. "S-sorry. CB slipped from my hands..." she whispered, Her tone had changed. No longer perky, but mournful. "I'm...promise you're safe? I love you, Razor. Swear you're safe!"br /br /"I am, baby, I'm with the Fabulous Four. I just can't give out my location 'cuz they could find us, or you. I just wanna make sure you're safe."br /br /"I understand," she whispered. "I am safe. I'm perfectly safe. I just miss you...it's lonely here."br /br /"I'll come home as soon as I can, baby, I promise," she whispered and closed her eyes. "Save some shortcake for me."br /br /"You know I always do," Loli replied with a soft laugh. "Extra strawberries and all." She sighed and took another pause. "I love you."br /br /"I will. Of course I will. Don't cry." But that was ridiculous to say as Loli was in tears herself. "I don't wanna hang up," she whimpered /br /"I can't stay much longer, love," she whispered, choking it. "It's been a long day and we've been moving around, I need to rest. Plus I don't wanna wake anyone. I'm sorry baby..."br /br /"I just...okay." She sniffed. "Please stay safe. Please." She was begging her. Loli couldn't handle losing Razor. She loved her far too much for something like that to /br /Razor smiled, more tears rolling down her cheeks. "I love you, I love you so much," she whispered. "Good night my sweet pink angel. Sleep well and dream all the way to Wonderland."br /br /"I love you too." She smiled weakly. "You dream about Wonderland with me tonight so we can be together." She let out a few more sniffles before finally finding the strength to hang up. Wishing that their time apart would end /br /After their talk, Razor felt better. She missed Loli, but she knew as long as she was here, she couldn't contact her often. The thought hurt, but at least she had her love. Her hand rested over her head and she smiled sadly. "I'll always love you, Loli," she whispered before heading back to her room. She crawled in bed and closed her eyes, which were tearing up. She still felt so /br /Oasis curled up close as she realized her idols were living with her. She tugged her panda plush closer and smiled. Her little shameful need was a secret, and no one needed to know. Maybe she could finally properly thank them for what they /br /Oasis was the first one up the next morning. She spent the entire time hunting lizards. She even made a small fire outside to grill them. She was going to show them they did something good in saving her /br /It was a long time ago and they probably didn't even remember. But she was running with her friends. They were young and inexperienced, but they thought they knew everything. They ended in a fight with some Draculoids; they were outnumbered. The girls scattered. She remembered falling, her ankle cracking, and the sinister aura of the Drac looming over her; the barrel of his gun staring her down, and the shock of his body when he fell; and Jet Star's signature blaster smoking as the Fab Four swooshed in and took the entire raid down. Kobra had wrapped her ankle and sent her on her way. Ever since that day, she was known as /br /She smiled sadly, remembering the past, her friends long gone. Were they even alive? Still running, causing hell? Or had they passed on, given up and joined up with the City? She shook her head. emNo, they never would, they'll fight 'till the end./em Something about their energy filled her. She smiled wide and ran her hand along her face, absentmindedly toying with her nose ring. Those were the good old days. And she would never let those slip /br /She didn't hear Jet walk up behind her, the sand crunching under his feet. He knelt down. "Smells good." He /br /She jumped and spun to face him. "O-oh...hi." She blinked in shock, not realizing she was burning this section of meat. He smirked and moved to pull it back. br /br /"I don't think you want it that overdone." He chuckled weakly, giving her a smile; he was trying to show how grateful he was for everything she'd done for /br /"I-i..." She blushed. "Thank you," she blurted /br /"Well, I just don't think you want it charred."br /br /"N-no not for that." She blushed. "A few years ago, when I started running-" She blushed harder. "You saved my life and I just...thank you."br /br /He blinked and looked at her. The memory was there, but it was kind of fuzzy. "Oh yeah! You guys got in the middle of that raid we'd been scoping."br /br /Oasis turned a deeper shade of red. Of course she'd made a fool of herself in front of him. She tugged at her hair and /br /He smiled and rested his hand on hers. "Hey, everyone makes a mistake once in a while." He winked at /br /Her eyes grew wider and she felt her heart stop. She couldn't take her eyes off him: those beautiful eyes, long lashes, perfect lips and smile, and messy, sexy, manly hair. She was on the verge of swooning. "I-I-"br /br /He chuckled and shook his head. "Ya don't gotta be so tense, I promise I'm actually a nice guy." He winked at her and patted her shoulder, retracting his /br /She blushed bright red and put her hands to her cheeks. She couldn't believe that he was talking to her, let alone touching her!br /br /Jet smiled. "There we go. Now why don't I go ahead and get everyone and we could enjoy a nice meal?" br /br /Oasis nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She just kept her goofy little smile and bright blush. br /br /The guys soon joined them outside for food and Razor came out next. She smiled and did her best to use the herbs Oasis had to flavor the food. This was wild, there was no other word. It was beyond any feast they could ever want. Like life before the wars: friends, good food and a nice /br /Revenge was the last to come in. Most of the food was gone, but she blinked sleepily. Poison smiled and waved her over to sit in the sand next to him. She smiled and sat against him, nudging him /br /Ghoul watched the two with a frown. He didn't like where this was headed. He had to put a stop to it. He couldn't risk this breaking this group apart. They had almost lost Kobra once, and they couldn't lose a /br /Jet smiled, talking to Razor like nothing had happened. She was glowing tonight. She couldn't help it. Talking to Loli, as bittersweet as it seemed, had detoxed her from the mess. They were laughing and speaking about nothing in particular; aside from Ghoul's anger, this was a perfect /br /Razor helped clean up, though Oasis protested. Razor shook her off, though, "Come on, you caught us breakfast, the least I can do is clean up!" She laughed and put the fire /Ghoul walked over to Poison. "When will we be returning home?"br /br /Poison stood his arms crossed and sighed, "It shouldn't be hot for too much longer. We need to make sure there's no monitoring equipment before we go back."br /br /Ghoul frowned. "I can jam that shit, no problem."br /br /"Well, I'd rather be safe than sorry."br /br /Ghoul sighed and chewed on his lower lip. He picked up a small snake he saw writhing on the ground. The least he could do was make the most of his time here. It was just a garden snake, no venom. He smirked and slipped it down the back of Poison's jacket when he sat down. Now there was no chance of romance /br /Ghoul headed inside and snickered as soon as he heard Revenge screaming and Poison bellowing from shock. Laughing, he headed to the motel. He found the radio and rang up D, leaning on the /br /"Hey old man!" he called when Dr. D picked /br /"What do ya want, ya runt?" D snapped /br /"I was just wondering if you can someone to do Intel work on the diner, make sure it's not being monitored."br /br /"Why don't you get off yer lazy ass and do it yerself."br /br /Ghoul sighed. "If I could I would, but Poison won't let meee," he whined into the /"Don't start that, ya youngin'."br /br /"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE," Ghoul whined out and threw his head back, smacking it against the wall. He hissed in /br /"You deserve whatever ya did to yerself." D frowned. "I gotta get back on the air, I'll talk to Pony and see if he'll do it."br /br /Ghoul pouted when D hung up. He had to find a way to make this work out. Now if Poison wouldn't budge and God only knew when Pony could do his run, the only option left was the /br /He sighed and headed to go look for them. He checked all the rooms, but they weren't /br /Kobra was giving Oasis a hand-to-hand combat lesson and Razor was showing Jet how to wrap a tourniquet in less than thirty seconds. Ghoul headed outside and scowled at the sight. br /Poison had his hands in Revenge's hair, their foreheads together. Ghoul could recognize that smirk anywhere. He was giving the ol' "Your eyes shine like diamonds and your smile is more beautiful than all of the flowers in the desert." He rolled his eyes and grabbed a small rock. He chuckled at the two and ducked down behind the door before it /br /Poison cried out as a rock smacked him across the cheek. He grabbed his skin, feeling the sting of cut flesh. His head shot around, trying to see what was going on. Who the fuck threw that? He frowned. No one was there. Maybe it was just the wind, or maybe it was a short fuckin' 'Joy who needed a good ol' ass whuppin'. br /br /"Excuse me." He smiled at Revenge and stroked her cheek, then went inside to find that fucker. "Ghoul! Get your ass over here!" he snapped and crossed his arms. He could feel his cheek /br /Ghoul walked over and batted his eyes innocently. "Yessss?" He smiled at /"Why'd ya throw it you little shit?"br /br /"Throw what? I have no idea what you're talkin' about. Were you stung by a bee?" He /br /"I swear to God I will kick your ass," Poison snapped at /br /"Sucks when someone lies to your face huh?" He snarled and spat at /br /Poison blinked, taken back. "Don't pull that shit, Ghoul, I'm not in the mood."br /br /"Oi, just fuck her and leave her like everyone else!"br /br /"Well maybe I actually like this one!" Poison snapped, unable to believe what he'd just said. Ghoul's dropped jaw confirmed he'd said that. Well, shit./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: #fffffa;"Disgust, that was all Ghoul could fathom. This was the biggest bullshit he'd ever encountered. There was no way this was happening; he refused to believe or attempt to comprehend it. He shook his head and took a step back. "Fuck this shit, Poison," he growled and headed outside. His hands were shaking so badly he didn't even know if he could pull a cigarette out. His eyes shot to Revenge, who was still sitting. His upper lip curled and he headed to the side of the motel to sulk and smoke alone. emFuck him, fuck him, fuck him.../embr /br /Poison tugged at his red locks and sighed. There was no way. He actually liked someone, how long had that been? He tried to think back and winced at the painful memories. It had been a long time, and honestly, he wasn't sure if he should like anyone. But it didn't change the fact that he did. He had fun with her, and everything was so relaxed. He sighed and headed out to see her waiting. He loved the way she smiled and her face lit up. He felt his heart pounding and took a quick breath before going back /br /She looked at him and blinked when he took her hands. She stared up at him for a moment. "Poison?"br /br /"Okay, just- are you into me?" he rasped out and knelt down to her /She blinked. "Wait, what? Poison, I-"br /br /"Are you into me or not? it's a simple question." He sighed and shook his head. "I don't have time to fuck around out here, so I want to know." Revenge's eyes grew wide and she just nodded. Poison smirked and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Okay then, that settles that." He chuckled and buried his face in her hair. This, this was /br /She smiled, a blush creeping up over the sunburn. She laughed. "Are you okay up there?" It was like she just melted around him, butterflies in her stomach and all that. Poison simply nodded and pulled back, noticing her nose's color /br /"Let's get inside," he offered with a small smile, taking her hand and leading her into the /br /Ghoul came around a while later. This entire situation disgusted him. His lips twisted into a smirk. He knew just the way to get her out of here. He walked to Kobra's room, then knocked on the door frame. The two medics jumped and looking /br /"Can I steal Kobra?" He arched a brow with a chucklebr /br /Kobra nodded and headed to follow Ghoul outside. "What's going on?"br /br /"Well, I just wanted to check on you."br /br /"What are you talking about?" Kobra /br /"Well, with you know, your girl going AWOL, and now that your brother's got a squeeze, figured you might be a little upset."br /br /Kobra's face drained of color and it took him a moment to process what was being said. "W-what?"br /br /"Well, he's dating the purple haired chick?"br /br /"No he's not." Kobra shook his head. "That ain't my brother."br /br /"Well, I just walked in on them cuddling."br /br /"Pfft, so he's trying to get in her pants, what else is new?" He couldn't believe /br /"Looked like more than that to me, why don't you go look for yourself?" Ghoul offered with an arched /br /Kobra shook his head, going for Poison's room. This wasn't happening. It couldn't. His brother wasn't like that, and more importantly he would never do that to him. Swallowing, each step seemed to get heavier for him. He carefully opened the door, doing his best to keep silent, and went pale when the door /br /-br /br /Ghoul smirked, watching Kobra retreat into the motel. He ran a hand through his slick hair and headed to continue with his plan. After all, he was doing this to help them out. Women-folk brought nothing but trouble out here. Fucking 'em was one thing, but if you kept 'em around...well, you might as well shoot yourself in the head now. Striding to Jet's room, he swung the door open, arching a brow to see Oasis naked in bed with Jet. br /"Oh my god!" she squealed out and grabbed the blankets to cover her nude body. She hid under the covers like a puppy dog, not wanting to come /br /Jet sighed and tugged his jeans on, being sure to face away from Ghoul when he rose. "What do you want?" came his smooth /br /Ghoul smirked and shook his head. "I need your help with something."br /br /"What? Can't you see I'm busy?" Jet sighed, rolling his eyes and lighting a cigarette up. "Oh, fine." He gave in when Ghoul stared to whine. He rose up, nodding to Oasis, who had peeked her head out. br /br /Once entering the room, Jet crossed his arms over his bare chest. He was still sweaty and reeked of sex and body odor. "Well?" He arched a /br /"So, I think you should take that Razor chick home."br /br /Jet chewed on the inside of his lip. "I told her I'd keep an eye on her, make sure she was safe."br /br /Ghoul's face fell, getting serious. "Come on, man, she's gonna be miserable here."br /br /Jet's brows furrowed in thought. "Still, man-"br /br /"I mean, how awkward is it that you hit on her? She must be trying to avoid that elephant in the room."br /br /Jet lost some color and swallowed thickly. "I see your point," he whispered and headed to walk to Razor's /br /Ghoul sat back on his bed and leaned back with a smirk. He knew Jet would see it his way. He sighed dreamily, hearing frantic footsteps coming down the hall. He arched his brow when Kobra burst into his room. Furious tears were streaking down his face and he seemed to be /br /Ghoul jumped up and put his hand on Kobra's back. "Are you okay?" He mocked /br /"N-no." Kobra choked out through his thick tears. He knelt over slightly his hands resting on his knees as he struggled for breath, occasionally trying to wipe his tears with the back of his /br /"What happened?" He kept rubbing his back weakly until Kobra's breathing /br /"Y-you were right, you were beyond right." He looked to Ghoul, pain and agony in his hazel eyes. "He, I can't believe he would do this to me!"br /br /Ghoul shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry man, I would've thought he'd be more sensitive to what you're going through."br /br /"I-I want her gone." Kobra panted /br /"Well, I have an idea of how to work that out, actually."br /br /"You do?" He arched a /br /"Well, you take him out and I'll have a talk with her, maybe get her to see bein' around us ain't a good thing," he /br /Kobra bit his lip and nodded. "I can do that," he whispered. "You aren't gonna fuck her, are you?"br /br /Ghoul rolled his eyes."I ain't into hookers." He shook his head at the look Kobra shot him. "I'm not into the ones like that." He /br /Kobra swallowed. He was a bit leery of this idea, but if he saw that again, it'd break him./p 


End file.
